Sailor Moon: GTR
by JustinBannerRacing
Summary: David Goddard, a man from the United States has been thrown off of the Goody's Dash Series and a mysterious man appears with the chance of a lifetime. He takes it and the story begins to take a jump from there. This is a long story, with chapter one being
1. DisclaimerUpdates

Disclaimer:  
I do not own NASCAR and tracks related to the Nextel, Busch, and Craftsman Trucks Series and the Dodge Weekly Racing Series, the Goody's Dash Series and tracks related to the Goody's Dash Series, the Japanese Grand Touring Championships and tracks related to the JGTC, the Nissan Motor Company, the Nismo name, the Skyline Name, the FairladyZ name, the Titan name, the Honda Motor Company, the NSX name, Ford Motor Company, Ford Division, the Mustang and Taurus names, Mercury Division, the Cougar name, the Mazda Division, the RX-7 name, the Tein Suspension Company, the Toyota Motor Company, the Supra name, the 2000GT name, the MR-S name, the Celica name, the Porsche Motor Company, the 911 name or badges, the Subaru Motor Company, the Impreza WRX name, the Mosler Motor Company and Mosler name, the Diamler/Chrysler name, the Intrepid and Viper names, General Motors, the Monte Carlo name, the Caviler name, the Corvette name, Ferrari Motors and the 550 Marenello, 575 Marenello, 360 Modena names, Sailor Moon and related characters. All other product names belong to their respective owner and they reserve their rights to them. This story was not written for profit and should not be interpreted and used as such. All created characters belong to me and me alone. Permission will only be granted on a touched-based method and unauthorized used of said characters and story will be prosecuted to the highest court of the land.

Updates:

Chapter One:

1. Reworded David's dialogs to fit his southwestern Virginia accent and background.

2. Updated to fit the 2004 JGTC with Skyline being replaced with Fairlady Z.

3. Various corrections and other updates.

Chapter Two:

1. Reworded David's dialogs to fit his southwestern Virginia accent and background.

2.Updated to fit the 2004 JGTC with Skyline Being replaced with Fairlady Z.

3. Various corrections and other updates.

Chapter Three

1. First version for Chapter Three.

2. WARNING: This chapter contains words and visuals that are NOT suitable for those under the age of 18 including sexual and alcohol use by a minor. The author assumes NO RESPONSIBILITY NOR ENDORSES any unlawful activities by any person who reads this.


	2. Opening Night, The Introduction of David...

"Final lap, final corner!" The announcer came over the Public Address system, "Who's... Oh my! They are going after the lead three wide! Oh, no! Hedrick slides into Goddard, they are spinning while Hanly is going for the win!"  
The second announcer came on, "Goddard and Hedrick have hit the inside wall and their race is over, that is Goddard's third DNF this season. This is Hedrick's fourth."  
Before NASCAR Dash officials could get over to David Goddard's Cougar, he was already at Jim Hedrick's car, waiting for him to get out. This was the third time Hedrick had caused David to be crashed out of a race. As soon as Hedrick got out of his Sunfire, David immediately grabbed him by the collar of his race suit, picked him up, and started yelling, "What the Hell were you thinkin', dumb ass? You could have not only wrecked all three of us, but, also killed us! Why the Hell is some, 'ey!" The officials grabbed David and pulled him off of Hedrick, some more officials kept Hedrick away from David.  
"Attention in the garage, David Goddard, Tim Goodwill, and Thomas Keniply are to report to the NASCAR Trailer, immediately," the PA echoed. They all walked straight there. The big red trailer as it was called, this is where matters were discussed if you were found doing something wrong. There was rarely a good reason you were to report to it. The first there was David, driver of the 98 Townsend Auto Group Mercury Cougar. Next to arrive was Thomas Keniply, owner of the 98 and 23 Mercury Cougars as well as Keniply Auto Racing, then, finally, Tim Goodwill, Crew Chief of David's car. They all knew why they were sent there, they all also knew it wasn't going to be good, either. This was the second time that all of them were to report to the trailer for this same reason. When they came out, David was nearly as white as a ghost, "I... I can't believe it!"  
"We are suspending you for 9 races due to actions detrimental to Stock Car racing," Tim echoed the official's ruling.  
Thomas was also just as shocked, "That's just not right, but we can't argue it. I'm sorry David."  
"Watch that bastard not get anythin'," David spat.  
"Well, that might not totally be so, but, if he does, it's going to be lighter than what you got. I can be sure of that," Thomas tried to calm David down.  
"He damn near got me killed! And it ain't the first damn time!" It wasn't working.  
"We know, David," Tim began to try, "We saw what that idiot did. He hit the apron and slammed into you. We all know how stupid of a move it was, and we also know it hasn't been the first time you two have tangled."  
"He hit me on the last lap, last frickin' corner, I would have won if that idiot hadn't tried to go three wide in that corner. He knew better than that but the asshole did it anyhow." David got even worse.  
They all gave up and just decided to let him cool down for a while. It wouldn't take as long. David began to walk on his own, "This is probably going to screw up my entire career, I'm sure the FIA board would love a driver that got in a fight with another driver and was then suspended for 9 races." He then walked over to his trailer and changed out of his race suit to a t-shirt with the Keniply Auto Racing logo on the front, some blue jeans and he kept his driving shoes on. David then began walking some more, hands in his pockets and head slightly hung down. "Why am I blamin' that idiot? It was more my fault than anythin' else. I am the one who lost his composure and went after the guy. I'm the only one who should be takin' the blame," he thought to himself, then sighed. "Wonder what Tom is gonna to do with me? I can't race for nine straight races, heh, what am I gonna to do? I'm out of a job for nine races. Not t' mention that NASCAR is going t' have stipulations on me for the rest of the season, no matter what series I enter," David talked to himself, an odd habit he has every so often when his nerves are unwinding.  
"You could always enter another type of racing all together," A man behind David stated.  
"Who are you?" David asked.  
"Aguri Kaneishi, owner of Team Gouka," he answered, "I own a car in the Japan Grand Touring Championship, the 33 Tein Nismo Fairlady Z in the GT500 class."  
David gave him an odd look, "Why would you want me in a car of that high of class? Wouldn't you want me in the GT300 t' start?"  
Aguri said, "You wouldn't be the only one driving the car. My son, Momiji Kaneishi, would also be driving it. We change drivers in this series, don't forget that."  
"Oh yeah, almost forgot," David stated, "But, still, why on earth would you want me t' drive your car? I'm not the greatest driver in the world, today should have proven that."  
"You are better than you are letting yourself believe," Aguri started, "You came from 40th because of that engine change and went on to almost win the race. A few weeks ago, you came from 5th and went on to win the race 2 seconds ahead of Hanly who was in second. Hanly was the best driver I've known in this series until you came along last year. Last year, you took a team that had nothing and made them into what they are right now. You just are a little 'hotheaded,' as Americans say." David couldn't believe what he was hearing, no one ever told him of everything he's done.  
"I always thought that it was Keniply that brought our team around, not me," he stated, "No one ever told me otherwise," he looked at the ground, then looked at Aguri, "When and where do you want me to report?"  
Aguri smiled, "I want you to be at the airport by 9 a.m. tomorrow morning, we will have a long flight from Atlanta. Only bring what you have now, you can get new clothes when we arrive at Tokyo." 


	3. Chapter One, Stepping Up

David got off of the plane and looked around, 'Gee, this place sure is crowded. Definitely not like South Boston. Hope I don't get lost.' He continued to walk though the airport with his baggage, then found a man holding up a sign with his name on it. It was one of the few things that were in English. "I'm David Goddard," he said to the man.  
"Mr. Godard, Aguri-san askd ov me to taki yu to yur new resedence," the man obviously didn't speak much english. David just nodded his head and followed him to the Mercedes-Benz.  
'Geez, this guy must be loaded. I'm almost worried,' David thought to himself and kind of smiled at it. It was almost a thirty minute drive from the airport, including the constant traffic jams. Once they got out of the main area of Tokyo, the traffic wasn't too bad and hitting into the country, traffic was barely a word. "This is much better, almost reminds me of home. Where are we, anyhow?"  
"We ar on the maien eyeland of Japan, called Honshu. Yur resedence is near Ichikai Town,"the driver replied.  
"You know, I never got your name, what is it?" David asked.  
"Nitta, Shinichi, David-san," He replied.  
David gave him an odd look, "Hey, Nitta, why'd you call me Davidson? It's just David."  
"Hai, I knw, I caled yu David-san becaus yu deserve mor respct than me. So '-san' givs yu rank here in Japan. Yu wil lern mor as yu go long. Allso, Nitta is my family name, family name always first in Japan," Shinichi said.  
"Oh, I kinda get it. It's a way of showin' respect to one another by using a suffix like that. Sorta like me calling you 'Mr. Nitta' instead of Shinichi-san." Shinichi nodded. "I sure hope you are right about me pickin' up on it."  
"Sum peopl fined thengs ezier two pik up whin thay here it all time," Shinichi said, "I fined ezier to uz english this waye."  
"Heh, I'm sorta surprised you can figure out what I'm sayin'," David added, "I have a South Boston accent, it's different than the way most of Virginian's talk. But, it is a little slower than the way most talk, too." Shinichi nodded. "How much further do we have to go?"  
"Anothr 30 Minuets."  
"I'm going to take a nap, guess just wake me when we get close or something'," David said as he drifted into sleep.  
"David-san, we ar here, sir," Shinichi woke him up.  
"Already? That went by fast. Must've been pretty worn out," David said as he shook his head and blinked his eyes. As he looked up, he saw a very large house in front of him. He stared in awe.  
"Welcum two yur new home, sir."  
David looked at Shinichi, "You're not serious! This place is huge, is someone livin' with me?"  
Shinichi shook his head, "Onle if yu let thim, sir. Yu will be only one here."  
"Wow," David whispered to himself, "I bet my home could fit in here and there would still be room."  
"Allso, sir, Kaneishi-sempai sade to bee at TI Circuit AIDA by 08:00 so yu can get used to the team and kar," Shinichi added, "It is in Okayama."  
David nodded his head, "Hey, just one question, how will I get around? I don't have a car."  
"Actully, sir, yu do," Shinichi pressed a button and the garage door opened, "Complements of Nissan and Kaneishi-sama." Shinichi bowed, got back into the Mercedes, and drove out. David waived at him as he left.  
David went over to the garage to give the car a look over. It was a NISMO version of the Fairlady Z. It was silver with a tri-tone red, white, and blue stripe starting from past the front fender well to just a few inches past the door, then it began to break up into three checkered flags with each it's own color. 17" front and 18" rear five star NISMO wheels wrapped in Kumho (265/40 ZR-17 front and 265/35 ZR-18 rear) Ecsta Supra 712's. "David Goddard" was on both doors, just above the stripe and centered with the door. It had a functional and adjustable rear spoiler and front valance. What made this a one off was the motor. Instead of the Double Over Head Cam, 24-valve, 3.4 liter, 213 cubic inches V-6, there was a 5.6 liter, Double Over Head Cam, 32-valve V-8 with a NISMO Supercharger. "Holy Hell! They either really like me or they want to send me though a tree!" David said as his eyes got wide as wide as saucers. That wasn't all, there was also an '04 Titan, a truck that hasn't been released yet, but was in his garage. "Well, I guess that means they really like me."  
He picked up his luggage and went inside to check out the rest of the house. It was absolutely huge. He couldn't believe the shear size of it. The outside didn't give a hint to the interior, "Man, where in the hell am I gonna to get enough stuff to fill this place?" He began his tour though the living area, it was fully furnished in the latest in technology but was still down to earth. "Well, guess I don't have to worry about this room." He walked into the kitchen, it was also fully furnished and very modern. "Guess I'll have to learn to cook, again." He went into the eating area, it was very Japanese. No seats to sit on, just mats. The table wasn't very tall, just to ones hip while sitting on the mats. "I feel like I'm in a dojo or something."  
The next area wasn't really a room, more like a porch, but, with a room above. You could see the garden out back and the Cherry Blossoms that made a small path to the rest of the yard. "This looks like a place I could be after a race, just sit down and look at the scenery. Very comfortin'." He went back in, grabbed his luggage and went up-stairs. He went to what felt like his room, which was above the porch. A king sized bed faced a large flat-screen television. There was a walk-in closet, empty of course. "'You can get clothes when you get to Tokyo.' I'm gonna to have to." He dropped off his luggage and walked into the room next to it, a guest room. "Looks similar, just a little smaller." He then went into the game room, "Oh, kick ass! A racing simulator! An actual simulator!" It was a cab only car with an opening door, full of screens to fully simulate a race car, there was even a mock roll cage. The seat was a real racing seat with the belts coming though like they are supposed to. Every switch, knob, button, and light actually worked as intended. Only thing was, "It's right-hand drive, go figure. But, I guess this is supposed to simulate the JGTC Fairlady. I can't believe how accurate it is!" He then looked down beside the gear shift lever, on the floor board was a letter addressed to him. It was from Aguri Kaneishi. "Dear David,  
As you can see, this is a JGTC GT500 Nissan Skyline Simulator, you are to use it as you wish. It is an actual simulator and if practice was to be rained out, this would be your alternate. We are patched in though a broadband connection and can get the results, add different tracks, weather changes, etc. from here. You can even go as far as race my son at the same time, which I encourage. It will help to get you two used to each others driving styles. Like I stated earlier, you may use this as you wish. It is yours for any use, enjoyment, practice, whatever. We may even find a way to simulate different streets in Japan so you won't get very bored.  
Sincerely,  
Aguri Kaneishi"  
"Cool. I never thought I would ever see anythin' like this as long as I lived." David then spotted a pinball machine, it was based off of the CART series, "That's pretty neat, too bad it is the CART series, though." Then next thing he spotted was the pool table, it could be set up to play 9- ball as well as 8-ball. "Heh, haven't done that since I was back in Virginia. Wonder if I lost any," he joked to himself. There was also a small bar towards the back corner of the room, "I don't think I am old enough to drink here. I'll have to check that."  
  
"Hmm," David started looking at a map of Japan, "Shinichi said I had to be at TI Circuit by 08:00. If I am in Ichikai, and TI is in Okayama, then that means," his eyes got wide as saucers, "that's over three hundred miles away! How am I supposed to get there by 08:00?" Then, all of the sudden, he heard a helicopter fly low over head. He looked out his front window and saw it land on a pad just a few yards from the front of the house, "Well, I guess that's how."  
  
Makoto Kino walked down Hi Ishi Street on her way to the Market Place in the inner part of Tokyo. She noticed a Helicopter flying lower than usual and her heart began to pace. Helicopters got her nervous, but, airplanes are a different story. She couldn't even stand to see them on the television. So much so, that she would hide behind the curtains to avoid the sight. It would bring back so many bad memories of that black day in her life, the day that her parents died. She had been living alone in her apartment since that fateful day. It was amazing that people just 3 years older than her could barely do it, while, she had been doing so since she was 6. Her uncle took care of her as much as he could until she was 14, then he let her take care of herself. He would give her enough for food and the bills she had to pay. The check would come once a week in the mail. Today had been the payday and she was off to buy food for the week.  
She continued to walk, after giving her heart a bit to slow. 'Why do they have to fly so low sometimes,' she thought to herself, 'don't they know that some people don't like that?' She had finally reached her destination and started her usual routine of finding what she needed, starting with the produce that could take the longer walk back, then getting colder foods last. She actually enjoyed going out and getting different foods and recipes to try out. She loved to cook anything and everything because her aspiration is to become a world renowned Chef and serve the finest dishes that the tongue could handle. Her favorite portion of dish to create was pastries. From bread to cookies to cakes, she could make nearly anything the heart would desire. The one thing she couldn't make was the perfect companion to enjoy her cooking with her. She had her friends, of course, but, she really wanted, almost needed, more. She had tried once, that ended in disaster in the rain. She tried again with Shinosaki, her best friend since childhood, but found him to be her best friend. It was a good relationship, but, it just never came to the fruition that they both had hoped for. He was still, however, one she could always come to for advice or just a shoulder to cry on. She loved him in the brotherly sort of way, not as a lover.  
She paid for her groceries and began her walk back home. On her way, she noticed someone familiar. She picked up her pace and caught up with Haruka Ten'Ou, her mentor of sorts. "Hello, Haruka-san!" Makoto said.  
"Hello, Mako-chan," Haruka responded, "Out getting groceries, I see?"  
"Hai," Makoto said back.  
"Oh, I just remembered," Haruka started, "I have a testing session Saturday at a track in Motegi. Want to watch me for a bit? I'm sure Michiru would like the company."  
Makoto smiled and said, "Sounds great, I'll have to check and see if I have anything planned, so I will call you tonight, ok?"  
"Great," Haruka said as she hopped onto her Honda and started it up, "I'll talk to you tonight, then." She threw on her helmet and waived bye. She sped off like a lighting bolt, in just a few seconds, she was out of eyesight.  
  
Makoto made her walk back home and unlocked her door when another familiar voice spoke up, "Need some help with that?" It was Daijobi Kamata.  
"Ne, Daijobi-san," she replied, "I can handle it."  
"You know, you need a man around every once in a while. It's only natural."  
"As natural as my fist into your stomach," Makoto thought to herself, "Good day, Daijobi," she said as she closed the door into his face and locked it. "The nerve of that, that boy!" she continued to herself, "He's such a hound. To think some girls actually like him, that's nearly impossible."  
Daijobi had other thoughts on his mind, "She'll be next, might take some other actions, but, I'll get her, too. No woman can turn this face down." He chuckled at his own comment. He was a hansom young man of just twenty years of age. His hair used to be a very dark brown, but, he went with the crowd and died it blonde and kept it somewhat short. He was also tall for a Japanese man of his age at six feet; he could stand out of a crowd very easily. He was also a womanizer, brought up that way by his own father who was the same. His father kept his wife long enough to bear his son, but, that was it. He cheated on her the next day and she left him. His father was Moriki Kamata, an ex-250 CC MotoGP rider with only two successes at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan and Sepang Circuit in Malaysia. It wasn't that he was a bad rider; it was the fact that the competition was that equal. The MotoGP is the highest in Super bike racing. His son is nearly his equal at the same age. His father also let his fame go to his head, it's the reason he was such a womanizer. "Their loss," he would reply break-up after break-up. Daijobi climbed aboard his Suzuki, modeled after his father's, and went back to his home located in the lap of luxury.  
At 11 o'clock, Makoto readied herself for bed, wearing a nightgown that she and Minako had picked out to match when they slumbered together, and got her night's rest. It didn't seem like long before she drifted into sleep, and into a dream that she would never forget.  
The night air was cold and crisp, however, not uncomfortable. It was very clear, you could see everything though the trees, which's leaves had fallen for the fall season. Then, warm arms wrapped around her and gentle words warmed her ears, "I'll come back for you, Jove. I promise." These words made her smile, but, saddened her as well. It was as if she knew that he might not be coming back for her. His hands then placed something into her hands as he kissed her cheek. He then disappeared into the night with these words, "Don't open it until I return. It's a way for me to be sure I do." She smiled more and looked at the small package in her hand and repeated those words, "Don't open it until he returns. I shall not until the promise is kept, then."  
The scene then turned into a hellish nightmare. The smell of blood filled her nostrils, the sound of tearing flesh, breaking bones, and terrifying screams surrounded her ears, the sight of sickening gore and chrisom red blood upon the white marble of the stairs and columns of the palace. She could barely stand the sight with out the overcoming feeling of wanting to vomit. She then heard the clashing of swords behind her, a ghastly swordfight was beckoning her to observe. She was nearly afraid to, but, over came it.  
When she reached it, it was two Generals clashing it out. Neither one giving in to the other, were they nearly equal in strength and skill. She immediately recognized the weapon of the one General. It was the Zigen of the Clandestine General of the Moon Kingdom, GeneralGraphite. The other, she didn't recognize at first glance, but, then saw it was the Saint Anger of GeneralQuartz, the other Clandestine General of the Moon Kingdom. GeneralGraphite had turned to the Dark Moon Kingdom as did Quartz, however, Graphite had returned to the Moon Kingdom with the help of his closest friends. Quartz had not and held his allegiance to the Dark Moon Kingdom. Now these two men of equal caliber were trying to keep themselves alive in this fight, each man holding their Rapier with equal skill, until Quartz did the unthinkable in a duel. He had noticed the Jovian princess and had maneuvered himself towards her, without Graphite's knowledge. In this bold move, he then grabbed her and held her in front of himself with his Rapier towards her thought. Graphite stopped in time to keep from hitting the Princess. She could not hear what Quartz had said to Graphite, but, she immediately found out. Graphite laid his Zigen down and kicked it away from himself, Quartz then let Princess Jupiter go. Despite being a traitor, he was still a man to most of his word. Graphite knew what would happen next, but, still would fight it to the very end. As soon as Quartz took his final blow, Graphite took the Saint Anger's blade into his hand and stopped it. He then threw a left punch into Quartz's face and the blow made him fall to the ground. When Graphite walked towards him, he suddenly stopped. He blinked out of shock, and then fell to his knees. He then drifted forward to the ground and landed with a dead thud. Three crystal daggers where in his back, each of them in a fatal spot. Quartz got up and walked towards Graphite; he then stated something and walked off. The mysterious figure nowhere to be found that took the coward's shot at GeneralGraphite. Princess Jupiter was a witness to all of this, and then ran quickly to Graphite's dying body. She was crying and sobbing into his chest as he took his few final breaths. He whispered three words into her ears, three words she could never forget.  
Then, suddenly, she shot awake. Her cheeks were stained with the wetness of tears. Her breath still jagged from her sobbing. She looked at the clock as it read 05:30, nearly time for her to waken to be ready for school. She decided to make breakfast after she took a quick shower. "The dream was so real," She thought to herself as she stood in the slightly cold shower, letting the water wash the nightmare away, "Who is GeneralGraphite and why do I care for him so? He is definitely someone from my past, but, who? Where is he now? Did he die then and never returned? I have to talk to Luna. She's the only one who would know!"  
  
Makoto couldn't believe her eyes when she got closer to Juban High School, Usagi was on time. "Wow, Usagi-chan, you're on time!"  
"Hai," She replied, "Luna-san kept batting me in the head until I awoke."  
"That was at 03:00," Luna added, "She did not wake up until 04:35."  
"Usagi-chan has always been the heavy sleeper," Makoto Laughed, "Luna- san, I need to talk to you during Lunch Break or after work."  
"Hai, what's the matter?" Luna asked.  
"Not much, just a dream I had," Makoto said.  
"Oh, oh, let me hear first!" Usagi chimed, "Was it steamy? I want to know the most im," she couldn't finish as Luna batter her across the mouth  
"That's not the way a future princess should act, Usagi-chan," Luna stated, "You have no need to pry into another's private information."  
Makoto laughed at Usagi's expression when Luna's pay hit her mouth. It would also appear that Makoto wasn't the only one impressed by Usagi's early arrival.  
"Goodness, Usagi-chan," Ami started, "You are quite early."  
"Will you guys get off it?" Usagi sighed.  
  
Yesterday, David got fully introduced to the team. He met the mechanics, tire changers, gas men, and his co-driver, Momiji Kaneishi. The two nearly connected from the start and sat beside each other though the meeting. Today, however, he was to be introduced to the key component that would aid in their conquest of the Japanese Grand Touring Championships, the NISMO Fairlady Z. It was all black or unpainted carbon fiber. No decals on it except to designate what car it was for the fabricators. David made it on time because he stayed at a local hotel. He was greeted by the owner when he arrived.  
"Welcome, David," Aguri Kaneishi said, "How was the ride over?"  
"Crowded," David said, "different from South Boston, that's for sure."  
Aguri nodded, "Well, you will have to get used to that. Japan is a small country. Anyhow, my son will be unable to attend. He has matters elsewhere, so, I will give you an overview of the car, "he opened the left side door, which was the passenger side of the Fairlady. "Ok, David, sit in the seat and position it and the steering wheel how you like it. The tilt lever is on the left hand side of the wheel where the turn signal would be on the civilian model."  
David sat down into the car and moved the seat as close to the steering wheel as possible and tilted the wheel so that the top spokes seemed like they barely touched the digital information screen. In reality, the steering wheel was about a foot away from the physical screen. David's position perplexed Aguri, then, remembered that most circle track drivers position themselves like this to "get upon the wheel."  
David then started looking at the toggle switches and various buttons that controlled certain functions of the car. He figured most of them out by himself, they were very similar to his car from the Dash series. The larger one with the red cover on it was the main power switch. The one beside it was the starter switch. The switch five inches from it was the fire extinguishing system. The next three switches under the power and starter switches were the engine fan, data acquisition activator, and the driver cooling switches. Each of them had a small picture for each to make sure they where not mistaken because of David's lack of the Japanese language.  
The two buttons on the steering wheel were the radio button, which was big and blue, and the engine kill button, which wasn't as large and was red.  
"What's these?" David asked and pointed to the two under the fan and D.A.A. switches.  
"They are the light and wiper switches," Aguri told him.  
"Ok, the wiper I understand the need for, but, the light switch?"  
"Yes, JGTC rules since they were known as Group S require them. Group S was also part of the Le Mans Twenty-Four Hour Event. You also have a high beam switch on the other side of the steering wheel."  
"Ok, makes more sense now."  
"Good, good, let's get you suited up. Your first test run shall be today!"  
David smiled with anxiousness and excitement, he had been waiting for three days for his first crack at the Skyline.  
  
Meanwhile, at the High School, Makoto had begun her daily class routine. Her first class was her least favorite, to say the least, Physics. That entire confusing math never seemed to add up in her head. After the early morning headache came trigonometry. It was more confusing math, however, she shared the class with Ami. Her bright face seemed to lift the burden. That, and her understanding of all things difficult helped out also. Her next class was her all time favorite and her well know dream, Cooking. The only thing that spoiled her fun was Daijobi. His continuous flirting got on her nerves and her teacher always seemed to find a way to pair the both of them.  
Next was her lunch hour. All the girls, save for Rei, who went to a different school, Haruka, Michiru, who both are now graduated, Hotaru, who is just starting to attend Junior High, and Rini, who was back to her time for now, met there to eat lunch together. Makoto would always share her lunch with Usagi because she would always seem to bring too much. Luna also didn't show up. She must have other matters to take care of. Makoto was somewhat disappointed, but, somewhat relieved. For some reason or another, this dream made her feel that uncomfortable. Her next class was Physical Education, another good class for her. She also shared it with Usagi and Minako.  
After this, she had Early Release for her job working as a waitress at a local restaurant. She had the biggest leg up on her co-workers because of her ability to speak and comprehend real English and not the "English" her schools tried to teach. A majority of the English she knew was taught by her father, a successful businessman who constantly flew to America and the United Kingdom. When he passed, her Uncle continued her studies. Ami also aided in her learning. She wanted to attend Harvard's Medical College as soon as she graduated High School and she also had a higher understanding of English. Makoto worked until 17:30 and began to walk back home. On her way, she heard a slight "meow." She clicked her tongue and blackish-purple feline jumped into her arms.  
"Good evening, Luna," she said to the cat as it purred at the greeting. As they began to round the corner before her apartment, the sound of a very ferocious fight could be heard.  
  
Earlier that day, around 12:30, David finished some of the most grueling testing he ever experienced.  
"You did very well, David-san," Aguri Kaneishi said, "Let's got one of the best restaurants in Japan, you deserve it."  
"Where's that?" David asked and smiled.  
"Hiroto, in Tokyo. They make the greatest Salmon my tongue has the pleasure to taste."  
David shrugged and smiled, "Sounds good to me. Lets go."  
"Good, good, I shall call my son and get him to meet us at my office building in Tokyo." Momiji and David connected at day one and David was now anticipating this next encounter. The phone call to Momiji was done by the time they closed the door to the helicopter. In just fifteen minuets, they landed at the roof of the Kaneishi Building and rode the elevator to the ground floor where Momiji was waiting.  
David smiled and yelled, "Hey, Moji!"  
"Hey Dave!" Momiji yelled back. They took each other's hand and embraced like as if they knew each other their whole lives. That was how much they actually connected.  
Aguri could already tell they would have the strongest bond in the JGTC, maybe in the entire racing community. He knew they both were going to be successful because of that bond. Only one thing could possibly hinder that, their size difference. David was 6' 3" and 205 pounds while Momiji was 5'8, 1/2" and 185 lbs. It would probably be a small hindrance because of David's seating position and they would both adapt very easily.  
They all three sat into the limo and rode to the restaurant. They discussed the day's achievements and tomorrow's goals. David talked about his early days in racing. Momiji told of his stories about his days in the Super Taikyu Series. Aguri just listened to the both of them, smiling and laughing with them. When they finished Aguri told David to explore Tokyo. He gave him a Palm Pilot with a map of Tokyo. David agreed and told them he would see them tomorrow.  
He began to walk back to his hotel in Tokyo after getting his fill of the city when a group stepped in front of him.  
"Watashitachi wa en anata o motte iku!" The leader said.  
"What? I don't understand you! Do you speak English?" David asked.  
"Money, want, now!" he repeated in English.  
"Oh, so you do know English. You might understand this one, too," he slightly paused, then said, "No." David then began to find another route when the individual forced him around.  
"Money, now!" The leader stated in a more upset tone.  
David pushed him back, "Look, jackass, I'm no in the mood to get arrested in just my second night in Japan. Now, buzz off."  
This only enraged him and the leader swung at David and connected with his jaw. David stumbled back a bit, it was the first time someone swung on him since he was back in South Boston a few months ago. He rubbed his jaw and slightly shook his head.  
"Damn it, all," he mumbled to himself. This time, as the leader swung again, David caught it and drug him into the mail container head first. The other three members circled him at that moment. Not one to really hesitate in a fight, David immediately launched a body blow with his left hand and a head blow with his right at the guy in front of him. The guy to his left came at him and David threw him over his shoulder. The guy at David's right took advantage and double fisted him in the back of the head. He fell to the ground and instinctively rolled to his back and kicked the guy to keep him from jumping on top of him.  
This was the scuffle Makoto heard and gently put Luna down as she went around the corner. As she made her way, the leader started standing and whipped out a knife. Makoto spotted it and quickly tackled him. As David sat up, the second guy kicked him in the back and the third kicked him in the chest. He fell back to the ground and the second guy picked him up enough to put his arm around David's neck and motioned to the third guy to help the leader as the fourth began to kick David.  
Makoto subdued the leader as the third guy grabbed her by the hair and pulled her off him.  
"Stupid move, bitch," he said, then cringed in pain and yelped as she kicked him in the crotch and threw him head first into the ground.  
"Wrong move, bastard," she spat, then grabbed the fourth guy off of David, held him by the collar with her left hand and punched him out cold with her right. David then got enough strength and punched the guy choking him in the temple and then got up and kicked his attacker. He then sunk into the wall and waited for his breath to catch back up. He then looked up at Makoto.  
"Thanks," he gasped out as he nodded his head as the assailants decided to leave at that moment.  
She sat beside him and sighed out, "Your welcome. What's your name?" Makoto asked.  
"David," he sighed out, "David Goddard."  
"My name is Kino, Ma, er, Makoto Kino. Would you like to come in and rest in a more comfortable place? My apartment is just right there," she pointed out.  
"You don't mind?"  
"I helped you, didn't I?" she smiled.  
He smiled back and nodded his head yes. As he stood up, she took notice how much taller he was. Her head was just at his chest.  
"Wow, he's tall," she whispered to herself. It was rare that she met many boys taller than her, even rarer was he. David took notice of her slight stare and laughed to himself.  
"Sorry," she stated as she shook her head, "not many boys your size around here." David started to laugh a little louder, but, then winced in pain as he grabbed the lower part of his ribs.  
"Those kicks must've been harder than I thought."  
"Come on, let's get you inside, David-san." She led him into her apartment, slightly helping him along the way. Luna followed as a close third. She then helped ease the both of them into her couch and then got back up. "I'll get you some aspirin and water, ok?"  
David nodded as he gently sat back more into the couch. "Heh, she's actually very cute. Very nice, too," he thought to himself as he admired her for a bit. "You're really good with your English, there, Ms. Kino. I've been lucky to even find anyone who could speak a sentence longer than three words."  
"My father traveled a lot when I was younger," she began as she walked back with the water and aspirin, "he would go to the United States and the United Kingdom. He taught me it since I was a little older than four. Then my Uncle and a friend helped me with it further." David could sense a little sadness towards the end of the sentence.  
"You and your father talk much anymore?" he asked inadvertently.  
"Well, if you mean in the spiritual sense, we talk a lot."  
"Oh, I'm sorry."  
"It's ok, my mother and father both died on a plane crash when I was 8," she handed him the glass and pill. As David took it, she started again, "My mother was really good to me. She's the one who taught me to cook when I was able to walk and stand on my own. She was such a good cook, it's the reason I want to become a world famous chef and open my own flower shop and bakery."  
David smiled as she told her story, "I noticed you like roses a bunch. You even have 'em on your ears."  
She laughed at his statement and said, "They smell, too," she took one off, "Smell?"  
"That's actually kinda neat," he then gave an odd look, "Clip on?"  
"Yeah, I had those since I was young. I don't wear much other jewelry. An occasional necklace every once in a blue moon."  
"I must say, you are quite pretty with out that stuff," he said, not really realizing it until he said it. The slight blush on his face was a giveaway to the fact he didn't want that to come out. He wasn't the only one with red on their face. Makoto was blushing red as a tomato and was smiling wider than she had in a while.  
"My, you are quite the, uh," she couldn't quite find the word at the moment. She was at a loss for words.  
"Hope you don't mean womanizer," he jokingly smiled, trying to ease her.  
"Hardly," she smiled back, "Do you really mean that?" David nodded in response which made her blush brighter.  
"Oh, come on, I'm sure you get that a lot! I bet you have guys fighting for you all the time," he continued to smile. The statement didn't help her blushing case any.  
"Oh, my," she smiled and began to fiddle with her dress. "This is so, odd," she thought to herself, "He's making me so comfortable, even as he flirts with me. Why do I feel this way with him?"  
Luna couldn't also help but notice, it was hard to miss. Not every guy Makoto met made her act like this, not even Shinosaki. Even stranger was the fact she only met David for a few minuets and they were both already like this. As nice and friendly as Makoto is, it is rare for her to act like this with a man she just met. In fact, this was the only time Luna can recall anyone she first met and was even comfortable enough to mentioned her parents' death to him nearly off the bat. She also had another concern about David, he looked very familiar. She even felt a slight closeness to him like Mamoru and her. She couldn't quite put her paw on it, but, David was a familiar person to her. She decided to get a closer look at him and to ease the flirting a bit.  
  
"Oh, seems Luna even likes you," Makoto said as Luna jumped into David's lap, "You must not be all bad."  
"Your cat?" David asked as Luna began her "inspection."  
"No, a friend's," she said.  
"It's beautiful looking, even so. What's this mark on her head?"  
"She's had that since I first seen her. I guess it's just an odd birthmark," she had to lie to him about it.  
"Looks like a quarter moon. I've never seen a mark like that."  
Luna began to sniff around him and get a good look at him, he was so familiar to her. He even smelled like someone she knew. David then gently picked her up and held her so that her belly was exposed and began to scratch her. Even though she was a Guardian, she still had her feline instincts. However, her instincts even told her it was alright. It was then she knew it was someone from the Light Moon Kingdom, but, who?  
"Wow, David-san, she really does like you," Makoto said in a surprise.  
"Yeah," he said and began to ponder something in his head. For some reason, he wasn't bothered by her. He has never seen a cat like her in his life, but, this situation was, "Familiar," he whispered to himself, "Why are you so familiar?"  
Makoto could barely hear him, but, it seemed to her that David was very puzzled, "What's the matter?"  
David snapped out of his thoughts, "Nothing, Jove."  
Makoto's eyes got very wide and thought to herself, "Did he? No, he couldn't have." David didn't seem to flinch at his statement. It was like as if he didn't even realize what he had said. She decided to herself to just ignore it. "David-san," she began.  
"Yes?"  
"Would you like to have dinner? If you haven't eaten anything yet, of course. I'm really good!" She smiled.  
David then smiled back, "I would be honored, Ms. Kino."  
"Call me Mako-chan, or Mako, instead of Ms. Kino. Makes me feel too old," she said playfully.  
"Ok, Mako," said David, "but only if you call me David instead of David-san. Sounds too much like Davidson."  
"Ok, David," she nodded.  
  
"So, David, what would you like?" She asked as she made her way into her kitchen.  
"Well, to be honest, I haven't had a good burger since I got here. Think you can make one?"  
"No," she said, then smiled, "I can make two." David smiled and laughed gently. Makoto then began to get things out to make Hamburgers. "So, what brought you here to Japan?"  
"Well, I guess you can say it's because of my job."  
"Oh? Where do you work?"  
"Gouka Team Racing. I'm the second driver for the Tein/ NISMO Fairlady Z in the JGTC."  
"You're a race car driver? What on earth are you doing here? There is no track around here."  
"The owner, Aguri Kaneishi, has an office building over younder."  
"Yawnder? I've never hear of a place called 'Yawnder.'"  
"Oh, sorry, I just mean over that way a ways back. I come from Virginia, South Boston to be exact. I talk with a lot of southern slang."  
"It's ok, I'll get used to it."  
David then walked over towards her after setting Luna on the couch, "Need any help?"  
"No, thank you very much, David."  
Luna was still thinking about David for a bit. He wasn't going to be a danger to any of them. He was very friendly and actually quite courteous. "He might even be a good person for Makoto to be with," she smiled to herself, "He may even help ease her feeling loneliness."  
"You know, a friend of mine is racing, too," Makoto said, "Her name is Haruka Ten'Ou. Sound familiar?"  
"Sorta, do you know what she will be drivin' or even if it is the JGTC she will be drivin' in?"  
She shook her head no, "I don't honestly know."  
"I'll ask Momiji or Aguri."  
"Who's Momiji?"  
"Oh, yeah, he's my co-driver. He's also the boss's son. Nice fella'. Me and him nearly act like long lost brothers or somthin'."  
Makoto laughed, "You really get along quickly with others, huh?"  
David smiled, "Well, no. My little scuffle should be proof of that."  
"Just a bad bunch of boys, that's all."  
"Yeah, well," he then trailed off, "Nevermind."  
Makoto continued to pound the ground beef into patties, then, turned on the grill portion of her stove. She then turned on the exhaust fan to high to let the smoke escape into the atmosphere. When she felt like it was hot enough, the put the patties onto the grill and let them cook.  
David then began to admire her again, "Even when cooking, she's graceful," he smiled to himself, "A guy really would be lucky to have a girl like her." Before he knew it, she was handing him a plate and a bright smile.  
"It's ready, daydreamer," she picked, "Hope you like it."  
"If it tastes as good as it smells," he smiled, then waited for her to sit down. He then took his first bite. His eyes went a little wide and shook his head and swallowed. "That really is good, Mako," he said.  
She smiled and slightly blushed again, "Thank you, David," as she began to try and eat her hamburger.  
"You really should open up your own place," he said, "You'd give any restaurant a run for its money!"  
Her smile widened and her cheeks redden before she could get her bite in, "Oh, my, more of those good comments."  
David just smiled back and said, "You know, you won't enjoy your work if you just let it sit there like that. I'll stop my 'good comments' long enough to let you eat."  
Makoto chuckled and nodded yes as she began to eat her hamburger.  
  
As they finished, there was a nock at her door, "Excuse me," Makoto said as she got up to answer it, "Uh-oh," she said to herself, "I almost forgot! I told Minako that I would help her with some studies! She's going to harass me for sure since David is here!" She decided to just live though it, "Konbanwa, Mina-chan."  
"Konbanwa, Mako-chan! Anata wa shukudai o renshuu suru ka? [Good evening, Mako-chan! You ready to practice homework?]"  
"Great, I don't understand 'em," David thought to himself.  
"Yes I am, Mina-chan," Makoto replied.  
"Hm? You have a guest?"  
"Yep, two of them. Luna-san and Goddard, David."  
"Heard my name in that. I think," David thought to himself.  
"Oh, he's cute!" she said as she made her way to sit in front of him before Makoto could warn her, "Konbanwa, David-san!"  
"Um, hi, I, uh, guess," he replied, not knowing what she said, "What did she say?"  
"She said good evening," Makoto said, "David-san ga nihongo wa benkyou surumasen. [David doesn't study Japanese.]"  
"Oh, I see," Minako said, "Sawre, David-san," she apologized. David nodded and smiled.  
"Does she know much English?" he asked.  
"Well, she'll be another that can only speak three words that you will understand."  
"So, she can't understand me right now?"  
"No, not really. Her name is Minako, by the way."  
"Ok."  
"So, what are you two talking about?" Minako asked in Japanese.  
"We are talking about you," Makoto smiled lightly laughed.  
"Humph, I see."  
David could only look and wonder what they were saying. He continued to just listen in as best as he could.  
Minako decided to pick back, "Should I leave you two alone for a bit longer, you have that look in your eyes. I could take Luna with me." She began to smirk towards the end of her statement.  
"Uh," Makoto began to stumble, "I, uh,"  
"Hah! I knew it!"  
"I just met him! Though, he is really nice."  
"So, then, you two should get to know each other better. I'll be fine with my studies, by myself," Minako's smile just got wider, "Just no funny business, got it?"  
"What do you mean, 'funny business?'" Makoto gave her an odd look.  
"You know what I mean," she continued to have that coy look in her eyes, "It's wrong to just hop into be,"  
"Minako! Who do you take me for?!" Makoto then interjected.  
"Oh, just you, that's all."  
"She looks mad," David thought to himself, "I wonder what she said?"  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Makoto asked.  
"Nothing, I'm just picking on you, Mako-chan. Just don't let him take advantage of you," Minako said.  
"He's not like any other guy I've met, he's very different."  
"How different?"  
"So much so, I just had dinner with him and we really enjoyed ourselves."  
"Awe, did he kiss you?"  
Makoto began to blush, "No."  
"You wish he did, don't you."  
Makoto moved her eyes to the ground and started moving her right foot, "Um, well."  
"I knew it! You are already falling for him!"  
"No, I'm not, he just said some really sweet things to me. That's all," she stammered out.  
"Like?"  
"He said I looked pretty, even without make-up and jewelry."  
Minako was now surprised, "And you didn't kiss him?"  
"Hey! I told you, I just met him!"  
"So? It's not everyday you meet a guy willing to tell you that you don't need makeup to look pretty. You need to go out with this man!"  
"I might, you never know."  
"No, I do know," Minako gave an evil grin, "Well, it's time for us to go, Luna," she said as she picked up the cat, "By, David-san," she winked at him, "Bee carfu wit heer."  
"Bye, Minako, hope to see you again," David said as Makoto closed the door behind her. He then smiled to her and asked, "There something I need to know? You got mad at her, then blushed as red as I made you, and she says be careful with you."  
"Ah, Minako is just a goof. She gets that way with me when I'm near guys," Makoto replied as she sat back down.  
"Oh? Heh, she sounds like a good friend."  
"She really is, she's nearly like a sister to me."  
"Hey, what time is it?"  
"Too soon for you to go," Makoto said to herself, "It's 18:30, why?"  
"I think I need to get going," David said, "I've got to be at a press conference by 09:45, tomorrow is the official day for Aguri to announce my signing with the team and with Tein now being his sponsor. It's going to be something different for me, even being as high as the Dash series, I've never had a press conference for such things. The most being a spot on Speedway Illustrated, but, that was just a small spot."  
"You don't think it will be a bad thing, do you?"  
"Nah, just something I'm going to have to get used to, that's all."  
She smiled at him and said, "I think you will do fine. You seem to be really good with people, so, I wouldn't worry about it."  
David smiled back, "Thanks, Mako," he then popped up with idea, "Hey, just thought of something," he reached in his pocket and pulled out a card, "This has my cell number on it. Call me tomorrow, and we can meet somewhere. I may even be able to get you into the press conference so we could hang out there, you could even meet Momiji and Aguri."  
"That's great, but, I have work and school tomorrow, but, I can meet you after 17:30."  
"Ok, and you can give me a good tour of the city?"  
"Sounds great!" Makoto said ecstatically. David got up and began to walk towards the door as Makoto followed him. She opened the door for him and let him out, slightly reluctantly, "Good evening, David."  
"G' night, Mako," David said as he looked her in the eyes and thought, "They're beautiful."  
She looked him back in the eyes and thought, "His eyes are handsome." They stared at each other for a minute, then shook it off as they said their good byes once more. As she closed the door and locked it, she melted to the floor and had the brightest grin on her face, "I can't wait for tomorrow." She then readied herself for bed with the thought of being able to see him again. She could barely let herself fall to sleep, she hadn't felt this way in such a long time. She liked the feeling again, she hoped she could feel this way more often now. "I think I really have fallen for him."  
  
David began to wonder. How did he know this girl? She felt so familiar, even comfortable. Something about her felt so right. He couldn't wait to see her again. "Makoto Kino," he said to himself, "it's actually a nice name, now that I think about it." He couldn't help but smile at himself, "No other woman has ever made me feel so good. Not even Mandy. Makoto, you're special in some way I couldn't ever dream of. I can't help but hope this good luck can continue." His pace quickened, he wanted tomorrow to come as soon as it could, he wanted to see he beautiful face again.  
At the same time a stranger watched as David made his way to his hotel. "So," the stranger said to himself, "he really did return with them. Who would have thought he would have been so much further away than the rest? Well, I should report back to my Mistress. She would be very delighted to hear that her old obsession is in fact still alive." With that, the shadowed figure disappeared into the night.  
David woke up that morning with Makoto still on his mind, he even had a very odd dream of her. He was a General of some sort, the suit seemed Civil War like, but, had an odd design on the coat. The sky also had an odd color to it. It was a light red tint to the normal night sky usually seen. However it was a dream, anything was possible. Makoto was standing near the edge of a forest, facing towards a lake. He gently walked towards her and wrapped his arms around her. He then whispered into her ear, "I'll come back for you, Jove. I promise." He then slipped a small box into her hands, "Don't open it until I return. It's a way for me to be sure I do." He then walked back into the wood silently, hoping no one had seen or heard them.  
Before leaving to be sent off on his next mission, David walked over to the room where the Princess of Venus was staying. "Can you do me a big favor, Princess?" he asked.  
"Of course, GeneralGraphite. You and I have been friends long enough to do favors for one another," Venus had replied.  
"You are also very good friends of Jupiter," said GeneralGraphite.  
"Oh, I see what the favor will be," she had smiled. Venus had known about Graphite and Jupiter's affection towards each other, but, it had to be a secret. A General of his rank and specialty couldn't fall for one of the Princesses. It could be used against them and cost not only the mission, but, the lives of the entire Moon Kingdom.  
"Just keep in touch with me with this Imigstone, tell me how she is doing," Graphite knew what he was doing was wrong, but, he had fallen for her beauty so hard he couldn't resist.  
Venus nodded in agreement, "I shall, I am the Princess of Beauty and Love, after all."  
Graphite smiled as he left the room to the secret room where his missions would be briefed to him. It was where he would get his orders and no one else would. No one else knew of the room as each General with the Rank and Specialty of Clandestine had to have this room of their own. They were the spies of the Moon Kingdom, their orders came from the Royal Families themselves. Graphite's orders were to penetrate the Dark Moon Kingdom and find the traitors of the Moon Kingdom. Once found, report who they were at once and await the next order. He then set off for the Dark Moon Kingdom with his orders.  
The next scene was darker than the last. The sky was nearly pitch black, the stars couldn't even be seen. He walked into a Grand Hall, which was made of near black crystals.  
"Ah, our newest member has arrived," the woman up in the middle stated. He bowed before her and stood again.  
"Yes, Queen Beryl, I have," he looked at her with stone cold eyes.  
"You are not the only new member of my protectors. Come in, GeneralQuartz."  
Graphite held back the surprise when he heard the name as he thought, "General, Quartz? I was the only one on this mission! Why, is he, here?"  
"My Queen, I express gratitude to thee for allowing me to see the truth," he said.  
"Why is he here? Is he a traitor among the other Generals? Why is someone with his rank here? He has my rank! He taught me! This can't be!" Graphite continued to think, "He can't be a traitor!" Graphite then bowed to Queen Beryl, "I must request a small recess for thyself. I shall return, your Highness."  
"Go on, but be quick about it," Queen Beryl said, "This is the last General to honor our presence and we must go over the plans for the takeover!"  
"Yes, my Queen," Graphite said. He exited the hall and found the spot where the Moon Kingdom would receive his messages with his Imigstone, "King Endymion, I must ask, who else is on this mission?"  
"You are the only one, General. Why do you ask?" Prince Endymion replied.  
"I have found all the traitors, King Endymion," Graphite said solemnly, "Generals Kunzite, Neophyte, Zoicite, Jadeite, and Clandestine GeneralQuartz."  
"GeneralQuartz? No, he was supposed to be on recreation leave! This was his real intent?"  
Graphite was at a near loss for words, "Yes, sir. I saw him with my own eyes. He is the last. They are planning an attack on the Moon Kingdom."  
"Graphite I know how hard this will be for you," Endymion started, "however, you must go back in there and record the attack plans! For the sake of the entire Moon Kingdom! These are the final orders before you return, I have given you permission to execute if the situation arises! Is the understood, General?"  
Graphite nodded, "Yes, sir! I shall fulfill my orders at all costs."  
"Good, see you when you return, General."  
"Sir, yes, sir!" Graphite returned to the hall and began to fulfill his final orders before his return. He put his hands and the stone into his pockets for it to record the events. Every word Beryl stated would be in the stone, every maneuver, every attack, everything. No words escaped his ears, he wouldn't let them.  
The time had now been the night before the attack on the Moon Kingdom. Graphite used the escape plan detailed in his briefing. Exiting out the window and repelling down the side of the Castle. When he touched the ground, he made his way northwest of the Castle. He ran as fast as his legs would let him, but something had troubled him. Graphite felt like he was being followed, his fears couldn't be more right as a blast came from just behind him. He began to fly though the air and caught a view of his pursuer, it was Repunsel, one of Queen Beryl's own spies. He was clad in dark red pants that flared out after the taping around his feet and a tight black shirt. His face was hidden by a mask with an odd smile on it, no one has seen his face and lived. Graphite used his time slow technique to allow himself time to recover from the landing and launch his own attack, the Gatlin Fire. Large transparent green rods would form around his arm and begin to rotate as they expelled themselves as energy blasts. The blasts only hit tree limbs because of the pure speed in which Repunsel could move. "Going to have to predict his next move," Graphite thought to himself. He continued to fire until he felt was the right moment to switch his attack to the AeroPush, an attack that used the wind and air to form a concussion wave to the victim. It sounded like a small cannon going off as it hit Repunsel sending him over a hundred yards away. "Goodness," Graphite sighed and shook his head, "getting rusty." Repunsel was out cold, or he seemed that way. Irregardless, Graphite couldn't afford to sit and wait on him. He needed to return to the Moon Kingdom with the information.  
The scene had changed once more. It was the Moon Kingdom, however, this time is was in shards and burning from the attacks that Beryl had launched against them. Graphite's information was correct, however, Quartz had a back up plan just in case and it was working too well. He began to fight Quartz with everything he had, but, the two men were equals. "Why did you become a traitor, Quartz? After saving me? Why?" Graphite demanded.  
"I didn't save you! I turned you back to the dogs! I should have never done it! We could be fighting together instead of fighting against each other!" yelled Quartz.  
Graphite yelled out of anger, "Traitors dog! I shall kill you!"  
Graphite's Zigen and Quartz's St. Anger sang the pitiful song of two men betrayed and sparked with each strong blow.  
"How could you?" Graphite yelled again, "I trusted you like an older sibling!"  
"And I, you a younger!" Quartz yelled back, "But you were too loyal to the Moon Kingdom! You never gave Beryl a chance like you should have! Instead you mocked her by infiltrating her trust and stealing her love!"  
By this time, Princess Jupiter had came in watching the two men fight to the death. Quartz had taken notice and had grabbed her as a shield with his Rapier to her thought. Graphite had just stopped his attack in time.  
"Drop your Zigen, Graphite," Quartz said, "and I will not kill her."  
Graphite narrowed his eyes and dropped his Rapier and as he said, let Jupiter go.  
"You see, even Beryl's Generals have honor like you do," Quartz prepared for a thrust to Graphite's heart, "however, it can only go so far."  
As Quartz took his stab, Graphite grabbed the sword with his right hand which began to bleed from holding the Rapier, "You may still have some sense of honor, but, I still have enough pride to keep fighting!" With Quartz in shock, he punched him in the face with his left hand. It stunned Quartz enough for him to fall and let his St. Anger go. He took the St. Anger into his hand and began to walk towards Quartz, with the intent of killing him. However, he was stopped just before reaching him. He was stunned to have felt three daggers in his back and blinked before falling to his knees. He dropped the St. Anger and drifted to the ground. Quartz stood up, walked over to Graphite and stated something. He then walked away with his Rapier in hand and the mysterious figure gone without a trace. Jupiter ran over to Graphite and held him up as she sobbed into his chest. "I," he tried to keep talking, "love, you," he said with his last breath.  
That was when David woke up, "Man, what an odd dream! Never had anything like that before." He looked over to the clock, he had to be at the Japanese Grand Touring Association headquarters at 09:00 for his introduction to the JGTC. It was now 07:45. "I've got a little more than an hour till I have to be there," his cell phone interrupted him, "Mornin', this is David Goddard."  
"Ohayo gozaimasu, David (Good Morning, David)," Makoto said over the phone.  
"Hey, Makoto," David said happily, "I thought you had school today."  
"I do, I'm just in between classes at the moment."  
"How long of a break do you get?"  
"Not long enough," she thought to herself. "Ten minuets."  
"Heh, not long enough," said David.  
Makoto smiled with his reply and said, "I was kind of thinking the same."  
"How's your day going so far?"  
"Alright, just the normal bothers."  
David laughed, "Anything I could help in taking care of?"  
Makoto laughed back, "I wish."  
"Well, at least I didn't come out too strong," David smiled at himself as he thought. "Still on for tonight?"  
"Of course. I wouldn't want to miss it for the world."  
"Makoto! You are going to be late for class," yelled Usagi.  
"Like you have room to talk," Makoto laughed back.  
"What was that about?" David asked, "You spoke more Japanese there."  
"Just a goofy friend of mine telling me to hurry up or I'll be late for class."  
"Well, I don't want to make you late."  
"You won't."  
David began to contemplate on weather or not he should tell her about his dream, but, decided not to. Not yet. "You only have a few minuets left, Mako."  
"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. What about you and your press conference? Are you still worried about it?"  
"Nah, not after that confidence booster you gave me yesterday," David said, "That really did help."  
Makoto's cheeks turned a bit red, "Oh, well, at least I helped you."  
"You sure did. Hey, where did you want me to meet you tonight?"  
"At my apartment, if you remember where it is."  
"I do."  
"Good," Makoto said as the warning chime went off. "I've got to go now, David," she sighed.  
"Alright, see you tonight."  
"See you tonight, David."  
As Makoto hung up the phone she sighed again and made her way to her next class. She then realized that her cheeks were still slightly red from David's comment, "Oh, boy, Daijobi will have fun with me today." She walked into the classroom and made her way to her table. Daijobi sat right next to her, "Good Morning, dear."  
"Go to hell, dear," she thought to herself, "Hello, Daijobi."  
"Hey, it's not that cold this morning, why are your cheeks so red?"  
"It's nothing, Daijobi."  
"Sure, and I'm one of the Sailor Senshi."  
"Then you must be."  
"Hmm, I see. You were blushing at the fact that you would be sitting next to me today! How thoughtful, Mako-chan! I didn't know you even felt that way!"  
Before Makoto could retort, the teacher walked in. "Good Morning, students!"  
"Good Morning, Nako-sensei," the class said in near unison.  
"Ok, everyone take out their books and begin to prepare the recipe for an American food known as Chicken Pie."  
Makoto quietly smiled as the word American made her think of David. She gently laughed to herself as she thought of all the places she could show him.  
Daijobi slightly challenged the teacher's choice on the recipe and said slightly to himself, "Americans aren't worth a damn, they just want to push their morals onto the rest of us like as if they are the world's police."  
Makoto was slightly shocked at what Daijobi had just said. Even as much of a jerk she thought he was, she couldn't believe the words that just came out of his mouth. She kept quiet and got what she needed to make the pie. As the class passed, she realized that she was the one doing all the work, "Daijobi, are you even going to help in the least bit?"  
"I refuse to even touch such a ridicules idea."  
"Daijobi, I would slightly appreciate a small amount of help."  
Nako noticed how Daijobi wasn't pitching in and walked over to their table, "Everything ok here?"  
"Just fine," Daijobi said before Makoto could even breath in to say anything.  
"How come you aren't helping, then, Daijobi?"  
"Makoto said that she didn't need all the help."  
"What did you say?" Makoto said in an upset tone. "How dare he?" she thought to herself, "Blaming me for his worries! He really is a bastard!"  
Nako only nodded her head and signaled to Makoto to calm down, "Then, Daijobi-san, Makoto will get full credit for the project. You will receive a zero!"  
"What? How dare you woman?"  
"How dare you, Daijobi!" The entire class was surprised by the exclamation by Nako, she never use a student's name without some sort of suffix. This was the signal that she wasn't too happy with one of them, and that took quite a bit to get her like that. "Daijobi, leave the room and go see the Director of Education, now!"  
Daijobi grabbed his books and walked out, mumbling about how traitorous she and other American sympathizer were. Makoto was slightly worried. She didn't like him, but, this wasn't like him. Makoto also knew he was too stubborn to go to the Director's office, so, she decided to find him after class.  
  
David got out of the limo and walked into the GTAJ Headquarters, where he was directed to the Press Room. He was just on time and didn't get time to mingle with the VIP's. Aguri would rather it had been that way anyhow, David was still a slight secret. Most of them knew that an American would be entering for the first time with Gouka Racing and didn't know what he looked like.  
"Ladies and Gentlemen, the conference will now commence," the Public Relations Representative stated. He repeated his message in four other languages, which included Chinese, Malaysian, and Korean. This same man would translate to and for David. Aguri and Momiji would speak in English, they figured it would make David feel more comfortable. That, and he wouldn't have to listen to the translator the entire time.  
"I personally would like to extend my welcome to all that could join us," Aguri began, "As you know, I have been team owner of Gouka Racing for three years now. I started this team in the Super Taikyu Series with my son at the wheel of the GReddy Mazda RX-7, who got rookie of the year and nearly won the championship. With that near win, I knew we had to take another step forward. With the now retired Stephan Jager and my son, we entered the Japanese Grand Touring Championships using the #33 GReddy Nissan Skyline GT-R. Along with the help of Nismo, we again came so very close to taking the GT500 Championship. Now with Nismo fully tuning the new Fairlady, I feel that this is the best chance to take the championship!"  
"However," Aguri continued, "two important components have taken their leave from Gouka Racing. Those two components were Stephan Jager and GReddy Performance. GReddy Performance had to leave to concentrate on their overseas markets, but, may return with us in the future. If they come back as our main sponsor or as a support, we do not know at this time. This is where new sponsors have the chance to break new ground. After many months of thorough searches and deals, we now have a primary sponsor. I am proud to be the first to announce that the sponsor of the #33 Nismo Skyline for the 2004 season is, Tein Performance Suspension Incorporated, Japan."  
The gathering of reporters and photographers began to clap and the #33 Tein Nismo Skyline had finally been revealed. As it was, a multitude of flashbulbs went off as the photographers tried to get their first shots for their publication. "I've never seen anything like this since the Winston All-Star Race at Lowe's!" David thought to himself, "This is a bigger deal than I thought."  
Aguri signaled for everyone to calm down, then began to speak again, "Now, the second, and just as important portion of this announcement. As you all know, Stephan Jager announced his retirement of his racing career at the final round at Suzuka Circuit of this past year. However, he consulted me privately at the beginning of year about his leave. I took this opportunity to search for his replacement and had to find a young man that had nearly the skill this former champion had. This search was nearly as extensive as our sponsorship search, but, I feel that we were just as successful at this as well. I also decided that an American was needed due to the fact that we would be entering literal new waters with a race at California Speedway. So, to encourage these people to come and see the JGTC in action, we needed an American driver. My search lead me all the way to the East Coast of the United States to a series known as the Goody's Dash where a very successful Virginian from the small town of South Boston was nearly dominating the series in just his second year. His first year in the series, he tied for rookie of the year, won eight of the seventeen races, and finished third in points. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the newest member of Gouka Racing, David Goddard."  
The crowd cheered and began their flashbulb attack as David stood and presented himself. It was more intense than the Tein announcement and he could barely stand it. He managed to smile, however, but it wasn't the greatest he ever did. "Yeah, this is bigger than I could have ever imagined," he thought to himself again.  
  
After class, Makoto went looking for Daijobi. She was very worried about his actions and wondered why he went off about something so simple. She had a feeling where he might have run off to. It's where most people in this city go when something is bothering them or they just simply need to be alone for a while. That place was the park in the central part of Tokyo. It really wasn't that far from her school and the lunch hour would have been more than long enough. As she entered the park, she immediately spotted him, he was sitting against a tree. It would have been hard to see him, if you weren't looking. She walked towards him wondering what he was thinking. "Hi, Daijobi. You alright?"  
"Mako-san, wh, what are you doing here?" he said in surprise.  
"You probably won't believe this, but, the way you acted in class had me worried."  
"Yeah, sorry about that. I shouldn't have put that on you like I did," he took a sip from his bottle, then laughed, "Would never would have thought that something like that would get me stirred up."  
"I'll say. What have you got against American people?"  
He looked down at the ground, "An American was the reason my father quit his sport bike racing, she forced him to quit and then just left him with me."  
"You are talking about your mom?"  
He nodded and took a longer drink, "She didn't have to leave us like she did," he looked up at her, "Hate to admit this, but, she really was as beautiful as you are."  
Makoto tried hide her blush, but didn't do good enough.  
"Here, drink this, it's pretty good."  
"What is it?"  
"Try it first, then I'll tell you what it is."  
She stared at him oddly, but, she didn't think he would drink something that would harm her. She took the bottle she thought to herself, "Smells awful. Almost like rubbing alcohol, but with an odd orange smell." As she took a drink, she nearly gagged as the liquid burned all the way down to her stomach. "What is that?" she exclaimed in between a coughing fit.  
"Vodka and Orange Juice. Good?"  
"No. Not really," she said between another cough. She felt somewhat dizzy, "Daijobi, why do I feel, odd?"  
He put on a slight drunken smile, "You'll be fine, Mako-chan. Just relax and let me help you."  
"What, what are you doing?" She exclaimed again.  
  
As he was being questioned, David couldn't help but feel an odd need to go. He kept looking towards the northeast of the building. As Momiji answered a question, he couldn't fight it any longer, "Aguri, I'm sorry, but, I need to leave."  
"Why, David?" he asked and noticed the look of distress on his face.  
"This isn't really too much on you, is it?"  
"No, this is something different. I'm really sorry, but I absolutely need to leave, now!"  
"I believe you, David. The conference has wound down, anyhow."  
David nodded, "Do I have anything I can drive?"  
Aguri nodded, "Your car is outside. Don't worry we can handle the rest of the questions. Whatever is bothering you, be careful."  
"I will, Aguri."  
David left as quietly as he could, somewhat hard considering he was the main focus of the intention. Aguri handled it, though and David got out smoothly. He fired up his Nismo Fairlady Z and took off as fast it would let him towards the direction he felt the need to. Ignoring most common sense and automobile laws, he quickly made his way to the source. "Why do I need to be in a park?" he asked himself, then, the feeling got even stronger and more urgent. He then ran towards the woods faster than he had ever run before. He never knew he could move this fast. He then saw two figures up ahead. At first he tried to ignore it, but, then realized that was where the source of his feelings were coming from. "Why do I need to watch a couple," he then got a closer look, "That's, oh man!" He ran towards the two and threw the man off of the girl as hard as he could. His breathing became louder and sounded like the air he breathed was mad as well. He looked down at the girl, then, quickly looked up. Her shirt was mostly ripped and part of her bra was off. He ran towards the guy again, grabbed his head, and forced it to the ground as hard as he could. It was nearly too hard, as he was out cold. He took off his button shirt, which left him with a t-shirt, and gently put it around the upper body of the girl. She had the smell of alcohol on her, but, it wasn't entirely on her breath, but on her body. He saw the bottle lying next to her, it was nearly empty and her shirt was soaked as well and began to leak onto his. He didn't care, he could clean a shirt. She moaned, began to stir a bit, and began a coughing fit. He picked her up and said, "Makoto, are you alright?"  
Her eyes slightly opened and murmured, "David, you really did save me."  
"Hey, I owe you more than one, anyhow. But, hush right now. I'm going to call the cops and an ambulance."  
"No! No don't, please?" She pleaded.  
"Why not? You probably need the ambulance, and if not, he does. And I say he more than deserves the cops."  
"No. Please! Just take me home."  
He looked into her eyes and gave in, "Ok, I'll take you home. But, what about him?"  
"I don't care. He's just another bastard."  
"Then I will call the cops on him."  
She nodded, "Just don't let them see me."  
"I doubt they care how you look, Mako. They can keep him away from you."  
"No, the alcohol, they will never believe me!"  
Against his better wishes, he picked Makoto up and carried her to his car. As he began to start the car, he called Aguri and explained what happened. Aguri said that he would call the cops and make sure that he and Makoto wouldn't be mentioned in any news. She surely didn't deserve it and David didn't need any bad publicity.  
David pulled into an empty parking space just in front of her apartment and he carried her up to her room. He sat her down onto her couch and began to try and look from some aspirin. She caught his hand and he turned towards her, "I'm just going to get you some aspirin. Believe me, you will need to go ahead and get in your system before the headache and hangover start."  
She didn't let go, but, she didn't say anything. Her eyes did all the talking, he sat back down and held her. She began to sob, "I don't know why I didn't do anything to try and stop him. I'm usually stronger than that."  
"That's what alcohol will do to you. From the smell of it, you had vodka. That stuff can be rough in a pure form."  
"That shouldn't have mattered! I should have stopped him. I didn't do anything."  
"Hush, Makoto. You did what you could have done at the moment. That's why alcohol can be dangerous sometimes. It makes people do what the normally wouldn't do."  
She cried some more, but was starting to get silent. Soon, she was fast asleep in his arms. He also decided to rest and was soon asleep himself, however, it was soon interrupted by a loud and rapid knock at the door. David gently woke her and let her sit on the other side of the couch. He got up and walked towards the door to see who it was though the peephole, he blinked as he saw a girl with long blonde twin pig tails standing at the door. The girl next to her had long raven black hair, the other blonde he recognized from last night, and a girl with short blue colored hair. "Mako, I believe they are friends of yours."  
"Mako-chan! Daijobu desu ka? (Mako-chan! Are you alright?)" the blonde pigtailed girl asked.  
  
Makoto looked out the door after David moved back, "Someone must have told them. Oh, God," Makoto slowly backed away.  
"But, they are your best friends," David said as he stopped her, "They can, and I'm sure will, help you. If you need me to go,"  
"No, stay with me," Makoto interrupted, "I want you here to help me with this, too."  
David smiled, "Ok, I will stay."  
Makoto smiled back, "I still have your shirt, too anyway." She took his off and gave it back to him as she redid hers.  
"I probably would have come back for it," he said, "If not, for you, most definitely."  
Makoto's cheeks became slightly red, "Thank you."  
"Makoto! Are you there?" came the same voice from the door.  
"I'll be there in a minute," Makoto replied in her native tongue, then opened the door just after David threw his shirt on, "Hi, guys."  
"You never showed up for, oh, who's that?" Usagi asked.  
"His name is Goddard, David. He," Makoto slightly paused, "saved, me today."  
"He did? How?" asked Minako.  
Makoto began to explain her story, telling them of how Daijobi acted in class, then lured her into something she didn't want and how David intervened in time.  
"That's how I got back," said Makoto, after she was through with the nightmare.  
Minako then said, "I knew that Daijobi was nothing but a jerk. Well, maybe a player, too."  
"Yeah, I know," Makoto replied sheepishly.  
"So, he's your knight in shining armor?" asked Usagi lightheartedly and pointed to David to keep the mood from being so angst. "He is quite handsome, Mako-chan, good thing he can't understand me."  
Makoto smiled and looked towards David, "Yeah, he really is."  
David just smiled back, he didn't understand but had an idea what she was talking about. "Be nice if I could understand you, Mako," David thought to himself.  
Makoto saw the look and quickly knew what his thoughts were, "Don't worry, I'm only speaking about most of the situation, I haven't talked about the more private parts."  
He then smiled back, "Ok, so long as you don't say anythin' embarrassin' about me."  
Ami understood what the two were saying, "I can assure you she hasn't."  
David laughed a bit out loud, "Oh? Well, at least I have someone on my side!"  
"Hey! That's no fair! I'm by myself!" Makoto laughed back.  
As the three talked, Minako secretly gathered Rei and Usagi, "Ok, you see how Mako-chan acts towards him? Just like I said!"  
"So? David seems like a very friendly guy. How do we know he likes her back?" said Rei.  
"Because I seen how he acts back! It's nearly the same."  
"She does get very starry-eye when she talks about him," said Usagi.  
"I would too, if the guy saved me! Besides, how do we know if it wasn't planned?" asked Rei.  
"Because you are too paranoid, Rei-chan," Minako defended, "That would be something that wolf Daijobi would play, anyhow!"  
"Yeah, David doesn't seem like that," Usagi also came to defend, "He seems to be just as nice as Mamo-kun."  
"I guess," Rei slightly gave in, "but if he hurts her even in the slightest bit, he won't be the only one who has to worry!"  
"So, now that we agree," Minako began to layout her plan, "how can we get them alone long enough to get their emotions going in the right direction?"  
"Well, there is the dance next weekend for the high school," Usagi suggested.  
"But, he is a race car driver," said Rei, "he will be 'working' then."  
"But the idea of a dance might work! We just have to plan it another way," Minako began to plot, "I got it!"  
"What?" Usagi asked.  
"We will plan a small dinner date between the five of us, we get Rei's stereo and a CD with Mako-chan's favorite love song," said Minako, " you know the one she can never resist to get that look in her eyes and dance to? David will have no choice but to dance with her!"  
"What if he can't dance?" Rei interjected.  
"We can convince Ami-chan to ask," Usagi suggested.  
Minako nodded in agreement, "And translate what we each say, too."  
"How come I have a bad feeling about this?" Rei asked.  
"Oh, quit being such a worry wart!" Usagi retorted.  
"This is, so, going to backfire," Rei stated.  
"Oh," Usagi said before sticking her tongue out.  
"Oh, yeah?" Rei said back, sticking her tongue out as well.  
Minako grabbed both of their tongues, "This, will, work if you two work together!"  
  
David took notice at the odd sight before him, "Umm, what do you suppose they are doin'?"  
"With those three," Makoto started, "there is no telling."  
Ami turned red with embarrassment for them, "Yes, they are quite odd sometimes."  
Makoto and David laughed at Ami's comment, which seemed to trigger the three conspirators to take notice as they began to behave themselves.  
"Ok, the plan starts now!" Minako stated only loud enough for her co- conspirators to hear, "Ami, could you and David meet me outside?"  
"Meet you outside, whatever for?" asked Ami.  
"Just trust me! I just want to ask David-san something!"  
"Somehow, I get the feeling this is going to be awkward," Ami slightly mumbled to herself, "David-san, Minako wants you and I to discuss a topic outside."  
"Uh, ok," David said, not even having the slightest clue what he was about to step in to. He followed Ami and Minako outside of Makoto's apartment.  
Makoto was then kept busy by Rei and Usagi. "What do you three have planned?"  
"Why do ask, Mako-chan?" the two asked in near unison.  
Outside, Minako began her portion of the plan, "Ami-chan, ask David- san if he knows how to dance."  
"What?" Ami muttered out.  
"Ask him if he knows how to dance!"  
"Why?"  
"Just trust me!"  
"Ok," Ami sighed, then turned to David, "David-san, do you, uh, know, um, how to dance."  
The last part was somewhat fast, but David understood, "Well, may I know why?"  
"He wants to know why!" Ami said with a bright red face.  
"Because, every guy should know how."  
"She is just curious," Ami said to David.  
"Not really. I've done the two-step at a bar one time, but, that's it," he informed her.  
"No, not really, Mina-chan," said Ami.  
"Then, me, Usagi-chan, and Rei-chan will teach him," said Minako.  
"Usagi-chan can't dance! How is she going to teach him?" Ami asked.  
"She could be the bad example!" Minako laughed.  
"Mina-chan and our other two friends want to teach you," Ami converted for David.  
"That's kind of 'em, but I don't think I need to learn any time soon," David said.  
"He appreciates the offer, but he doesn't want to learn," Ami relayed back.  
"If he wants to really win Mako-chan, he will," Minako said.  
"That's what you are up to! I knew you three were up to something like this!" Ami exclaimed.  
David cocked his head to the side a bit. He heard Makoto's name mentioned before Ami's tone changed. "You know, I think I may know more than I thought," he thought to himself then laughed, "I know what she has planned already."  
Ami turned around, "You do?"  
"Yep," he nodded, "She is tryin' to set me up."  
"Yeah, I suppose my change in tone helped to answer that."  
"That, and how Mako described her friend."  
"So, you were somewhat prepared for it?"  
"Sorta. Didn't think she would try me this early, though," said David.  
Minako stared at them, not knowing what the two were saying, "Ami- chan, what did he say?"  
"David-san knows what you three are up to."  
"Will he still do it, though?"  
"Mina-chan wants to know if you are still willing to learn," said Ami.  
"I appreciate the offer, but, if it is to happen, then I want it to happen naturally," David replied.  
Minako didn't need a translator to know David's answer, so she tried to plea to him, "Iy wan yu tu! She veli wounly, she nead somwon! She nead yu, Iy kno yu sea it tu. Preas?"  
David sighed and glanced at the evening sky, "I am very fond of her, even though I have only just met Makoto. For some reason, I hold such, that I could nearly sense her danger. It is how I saved her today from that bastard. I felt her fear and need for help," he sighed again, "It's a rotten way of doin' it, but, I will," he nodded to let Minako know that he did agree.  
Minako then practically ran over and hugged him, "Thanc yu!"  
Ami then smiled a bit, Minako had a point, "Mako-chan has been very lonely, at least David-san can keep her company," she thought to herself, "However, I do have to ponder on how David-san was able to find her like he did. Could he be connected to our past in some way? If he is, how?"  
"Oh, uh, by the way, I do know how to dance. I just use that as an excuse to get out of it," David added.  
"What did he say?" Minako asked Ami.  
"He knows how to dance, he just uses the 'I don't know how' as an excuse," Ami translated.  
"Ugh, Men!" Minako playfully hit David's shoulder.  
A small look of surprise came over his face, "What?"  
"She's just being playful at the fact you used that as an excuse," said Ami.  
"Oh."  
"Oh! Dun tel Mako-chan abot et! Et a secrlet. Okey?" Minako added, "Goes for you too, Ami-chan."  
  
Meanwhile, inside Makoto's apartment, Rei and Usagi tried to find a way to figure out the name of the song Makoto would always want to dance to.  
"Mako-chan, what is the name of that song you always want to dance to?" Usagi asked.  
"Why do you want to know? What do you three have planned?" Makoto asked  
"Nothing, Mako-chan. We just keep forgetting what song it is! Might be a present for your birthday or something!" Rei said.  
"If Mina-chan is involved, it's usually not about my birthday, especially with it being nearly a month away. So, what do you have planned?" said Makoto.  
"Nothing," the two girls said in unison.  
Makoto sighed, "It's 'Lover Lay Down,' by Dave Matthews Band."  
"'Lover Lay Down?' by Dave Matthews Band?" Rei blinked, "That's the song? That's the group?"  
"Yes, it is. I happen to like them, thank you and have the CD, so, you guys don't have to buy it," Makoto said  
"Can I borrow it? I've never heard the song. Actually, I've never heard of the group!" Usagi said.  
"Sure," said Makoto, "but, you have to bring it back!" stressing the last parts.  
"Ok, Mako-chan! Thanks!" Usagi smiled.  
"She's being pretty quick on her feet," Rei thought in disbelief, "Wonder what's got into her? Wish it would stay more often."  
Makoto got up and went to her closet, a spot in the corner was where she kept her entire collection of Dave Matthews Band CD's and a few old tapes. Oddly enough, it was her father that got her into her habit of collecting them. It was one way that she could keep the good memories of her father. She could remember her mother just by her own cooking, a trait Makoto picked up from her. She had many memories about her mother, but, not of her father because of his constant leaving for various business trips he would have to go on so far away. She pulled out the album that had her song on it, "Under The Table And Dreaming,"closed the closet door, and went back to Usagi, "Here you go, please be careful with it."  
"I will, Mako-chan, thank you, again!" Usagi said.  
About that time, David, Ami, and Minako, who looked like she won a wonderful prize of some sort, came back in. "We're back, but, then again, we didn't go far," said David.  
"About time you three came back," Makoto laughed.  
"Well, your good friend Minako tried to be a chatter with me, but Ami had to interpret for the both of us."  
"Yes, well, it was quite an interesting conversation," said Ami, still a bit red from the questions that Minako tried to get her to ask.  
Minako quietly walked over to where Usagi and Rei had been sitting, "Did you get it?"  
"Yeah, easier than I thought it was," said Rei, "Usagi did her part really well."  
"What part?" asked Usagi.  
"You mean you really don't know who the band is?" asked Rei.  
"Who is the band?" asked Minako.  
"Dave Matthews Band," replied Usagi.  
"Dave Matthews Band? I would have never really thought Mako-chan to be a fan of theirs. I figured it would be a boy band of some sort," said Minako.  
"Guess not," said Rei.  
"Who are they?" asked Usagi again.  
"A rock band. Just something I wouldn't have figured Mako-chan would dance to. What song is it?"  
"'Lover Lay Down,'" said Rei.  
"I've heard the song, it is kinda sweet I guess," said Minako.  
  
"There they go chattin' to themselves again," said David.  
"They are really up to something," said Makoto.  
"If you only knew," thought Ami, "but a promise is a promise and I won't tell her."  
"Hey, why don't you three share with us?" Makoto asked so that only they and Ami would understand.  
The three yelped out loud, "No, no, nothing to hide!"  
"Really? Why have you three been chatting amongst yourselves?"  
"Because we are the only ones who can't speak English!" defended Minako.  
"Yeah, we can't help it if we weren't taught," said Rei.  
"Yeah," joined Usagi.  
"Usagi would probably screw it up, anyhow!" said Rei.  
"What?!"  
"Yep, just like you can barely speak Japanese!"  
"Oh," Usagi stuck out her tongue.  
"Yeah!" Rei stuck hers in a retort.  
David could only blink and wonder to himself, "Are they always like that? They are like a couple of battlin' sisters," as he began to laugh quietly.  
Makoto heard him laugh and said, "They are quite entertaining sometimes, others, they can be very obnoxious."  
"Yes," agree Ami, "Most obnoxious."  
David laughed louder, "Well, it could be worse! They could be doin' this in front of someone of high stature, like a president, or queen, or somethin'."  
"Sad thing is that she is a Queen," Ami thought to herself, "A future one, anyway."  
At about that time, Artemis popped his head out and blinked himself out of his sleep. He looked around the room in a bit of a sleepy stupor, until his eyes set upon David. He nearly jumped out of the bag that Minako carried him in. "By the stars and moons themselves! It's GeneralGraphite!"  
David looked down at the bag as Minako stuffed him back inside, "What was that?"  
"Oh, nohing!" said Minako, "Just mai kat! He rlealr stupd an es n ned of sum slreip!" stressing the sleep part.  
"Oh, I see, I think," said David scratching his head.  
"Yes, unfortunately, Minako's blondeness is nearly a disease!" Makoto said nervously, "It even can transfer to animals!"  
"Um, ok," David said wondering about why they were so nervous about the cat meowing oddly.  
"Yes, fortunately, we are immune," laughed Ami, also somewhat nervous.  
David shot them an odd look, but laughed, "Ok, I believe you." He then got a look at the clock, it was 19:00, and thought to himself, "7 P.M., I can stay a bit longer, but I do have the test tomorrow to prove to the GTA that I can handle the car, driver exchanges, and such. But, that's not until 10 in the morning. Yeah, I can stay longer." He thought about the last part as he looked over a Makoto and smiled. Makoto gently smiled back to him, there was a slight glimmer in her eyes as she did. David thought of it more as a sparkle, "She really does have beautiful eyes. Emerald Green, very beautiful."  
As David and Makoto stared into each other, Artemis used his claws and tugged at Minako's shirt, "We need to talk without David! It's important!"  
"Hush or he will hear you!" Minako said quietly.  
"Minako, we need to have him leave! Trust me! We also need to get Luna! I think he is a General!"  
"Wh," Minako caught herself and quietly said, "What?"  
"Minako, please, just politely ask David to leave. Say it's girl stuff he shouldn't listen to or something!"  
"I'll have to get Ami to help, he doesn't know Japanese."  
"Ok, fine, just get him out of here!"  
"Ok," Minako said then called over to Ami, "We need to get David to leave. The cat says it's important and that he might be something else," she tried to keep every word in Japanese so that David wouldn't be clued in.  
"What? Why? Is it bad?" said Ami  
"I don't know. He can't hear it for now, according to the cat," Minako replied.  
"Ok, but, what do I tell him?"  
"Tell him that we need to discuss girly stuff that a gentleman shouldn't hear," Minako smirked, "That should get him out of here."  
"Ok," said Ami then relayed the message to David, "David-san, there are some things we must discuss among us girls. Something gentlemen shouldn't hear, if you understand."  
"Oh," said David out of his daze of staring at Makoto, "Ok, is it somethin' I can just step out for or do I have to leave and come back tomorrow?"  
"You'll have to come back tomorrow, sorry," Ami said, somewhat disappointed herself. She was beginning to get used to David and it was rare that she had the opportunity to use her English like this.  
David sighed, "Ok, I do have a test with the GTA tomorrow to prove that I can drive the car durin' a race, anyhow."  
Makoto was very disappointed, but something was up. It was unusual for Ami to state something like that and even more to request someone to leave. "I'll walk with you to your car, David."  
"Ok," he smiled and nodded. He and Makoto stood at nearly the same time. As Makoto opened the door and just before he stepped out he said, "It was a pleasure gettin' to know y'all and hope to see you again. G'night!" He followed her down the stairs and to his car. Minako and Usagi quietly peeked over the railing in front of Makoto's apartment, they didn't want to miss any action, but also wanted to make sure they didn't ruin the plan by starting too early.  
As he opened his car door, Makoto spoke, "Thank you for saving me, David. I really appreciate it."  
He smiled at her, "I wouldn't want anythin' bad happen to you, so you don't have to thank me. And I said I owed you one, remember?"  
"I know, I just, I," tears began to form on her eyes. David brought her closer to him and gently hugged her. She quietly wept as he soothed her.  
He tipped her face up with his finger and said, "Makoto, I promise nothing bad will happen to you so long as I live." He deepened his look into her eyes and smiled, "I promise to protect you from harm. No one will ever hurt you even remotely close to what that guy did today. I promise."  
He began to move closer to her, and she to him, then Usagi yelled, "Get a hotel if you two are going to act like that!"  
"Yea! A hoterl ferl stuf lik tha! Tha es baed two dou en pubric!" Minako said so that David would get it. "That was a close call."  
"Yeah," said Usagi.  
David and Makoto, in the mean time, turned red as tomatoes and laughed very nervously to each other. "Call you tomorrow?" he asked, still nervously.  
"Yeah," Makoto said in a similar manner.  
"Ok."  
"Bye."  
"G'night," said David as he sat down into his car and fired it up, the loud exhaust made the two party crashers and Makoto yelp. David smiled and waived out the window after he got the belts on. He shifted the car into reverse and backed out of the parking space he was in. He slowly approached to the small stop sign at the entrance of the apartments and looked to see if he was clear. When he felt he was, he headed north towards the C1 highway. His car could be heard for moments after he was gone. As the Fairlady made it's way onto the C1, another car came up behind him and flashed it's high beams at him. He held his lane and waited for the Canary Yellow Toyota 2000GT to pass. It wouldn't, it just kept flashing it's lights, so he moved over to the other lane. It followed and flashed again. Growing tired of the constant flashing, David sped up. It sped up just as fast, "Screw this!" He then slammed it into third gear and hammered the gas, the V-8 overpowered the rear tires and smoke escaped the rear fenders as he began to go faster. The Toyota kept up as he power shifted into fourth, nearing 140 MPH. The sound of the nearly open exhaust on the supercharged 5.6 liter was as intoxicating as it was loud, the whine of the supercharger was truly marvelous and was a sound needed to be heard by all. By the time they hit 170, he was into fifth gear and the speedometer kept climbing.  
Up ahead was a very sharp turn that lead to the exit for the Daiba 11 and Haneda 11 freeways. The 2000GT slowed way down, but David kept his foot in it for a bit longer. At just before 50 meters from the turn, he began to hit the brakes and purposely dog tracked the rear end around. He popped the transmission into third and began to drift the car around the corner, using the gas pedal to keep the car on the correct path. From the Toyota's standpoint, she could see the whole right hand side of the car and began to worry if the Fairlady Z would make it. By the end of the corner, he was in line with the straightaway and began to floor it. The Toyota, on the other hand, flashed it's lights and turned it's right hand blinker on to indicate it wanted to hit the Haneda 11. David replied by turning his on as well and hitting that freeway. After another brief stint of fast driving, the 2000GT flashed it's lights again and signaled it was pulling over just ahead. David followed suit and began to slow down, at the small pull in lane, they parked their cars and got out. As they did, they were both shocked at their uniqueness. David was surprised at the driver being a girl, and the girl was surprised at not only him being American, but getting out of the car though the left door.  
"My name is David Goddard, and I hope you know English," he said.  
"I do, and my name is Haruka Ten'Ou," the driver of the 2000GT replied.  
  
Makoto looked up at Minako and Usagi and gave them a menacing smirk, "Sometimes I can't stand you guys."  
"Uh-oh," they both nearly replied and made their way back into the apartment with Makoto charging up the stairs right behind them.  
"You two know how to ruin a moment!" she yelled to them.  
"Please, this is serious," Artemis said as they made their way though the door.  
"Why such a serious tone?" Minako asked, "We are just messing with each other."  
"It's not that, it concerns your male friend and the fact that I think he is a General," he replied.  
"A, a General?" Makoto somewhat stammered out.  
"Yes, I believe he is," Artemis said.  
"But, I thought all of the Generals were taken care of? You mean, there might be a few we don't know about?" Usagi said, slightly worried.  
"Yes, it is possible, where is Luna? She would be most helpful at this moment since she does carry a bit more memory about the Moon Kingdom than I."  
"She is probably back home," said Usagi.  
"What General do you think he is?" Makoto asked.  
"I think he is the one known as Graphite."  
Makoto's eyes widened and she said to herself, "The General from my dream is, David? No," she looked over to Artemis and asked, "If that is so, then, why did he come from so far? Why wasn't he awakened with us or the other Generals?"  
"Hard to really say, there may even be more members from the Royal Family in other parts of the world. We may never actually get to meet them, we may run across them and never know it," he looked over towards Makoto, "Or, we may meet them just like we have met David. However, we cannot assume that he is a General for sure. He may just remind me of this one. If he is, we must take caution, he may or may not be on our side. Even though his actions today said otherwise, he may have been a traitor to the kingdom and we can't take a chance. If he is a traitor, we may even have the chance to sway him back to our side. We just have to take all of this one step at a time."  
"David is no traitor! A man who did what he did today cannot be a traitor!" Makoto defended, "I know he isn't a traitor! I can feel it."  
"Makoto, I'm not trying to say that he is or isn't, I just don't know," said Artemis, "Like I said, let's just take this one step at a time. I'll consult Luna tomorrow about it and see what that 'next step' will be. For now, act like I didn't mention this and things should be fine. We'll figure out how to handle it, we always do."  
Minako leaned over to Rei and Usagi and whispered, "Should we put our plan on hold or continue?"  
"Well, Artemis did say that we should act like he never mentioned it, so yes," said Usagi.  
"I suppose you are right and as heartless as this may sound," said Rei, "it could help him sway to our side if he isn't."  
Makoto began to zone out a bit and think back to her dream, "David is no traitor. If he really is GeneralGraphite, then, I know for sure he is no betrayer. If these two men are anything like my dream, I have nothing to worry about. None of us do."  
  
"So you are the American driver I've heard so much about," Haruka said.  
"News really does travel too fast," said David.  
"Yes, it can. Why have you come here to race?"  
"Hoping it will be my opportunity to get into larger leagues of racin'."  
"Like Nextel?"  
"Maybe, that or Formula One."  
"That was pretty amazing what you did back there, sliding and all," she nodded behind her.  
"What? That? I grew up doing it. Southside Speedway, Virginia Motorspeedway, you learn how to drive on a dirt track."  
"Oh, really?"  
"Yep, then you go to short tracks like South Hampton, South Boston, Martinsville, then I hit the road course of VIR, Road Atlanta, then I got into the Goody's Dash. That's when the real learning curve begins."  
"How's that?"  
"Well, you start the season at Daytona, go to a lot of short tracks, we even hit a dirt track this last season, then end at Atlanta. I'm telling you, it ain't called 'Hotlanta' for nothin'. Nearly flat out, hitting that 'handsome" Harry Gant kinda groove, getting within' cat's whisker to the wall, slipping an' slidin' the whole time for just 100 laps. That's just awesome. No roller coaster will ever give you the same feeling, ever!"  
"That does sound fun," Haruka nearly said in awe.  
"Yeah, and Nextel is no different, as far as the driving around Atlanta goes."  
"I'm sure it's harder."  
"Competition wise, yeah, but drivin' the car is easier. In a relative sense, anyway. You're more able to slide the car by using the gas, but it does have it's challenges."  
"I could see why. The car nearly weighs a ton. And it has an incredible amount of power strokes."  
"Huh? Power strokes? What's that?"  
"Oh, it's the same as saying horsepower, just a different way of saying it."  
"Ah, I get it. Is it measured the same?"  
"Yes. 700 Power Strokes is 700 Horsepower," Haruka said as she slightly adjusted her hair from a car whizzing by at a high rate of speed, "Juniors. They have no respect for cars on the side of the road."  
"Yeah, he could have slowed or moved over to the other lane."  
Another came at a blazing amount of speed, "Whoa, what the hell?" exclaimed David.  
"The 'Eternal Harmony J,'" she spat, "they have no respect for anything. Though, their cars are amazing, considering their parents bought them and gave them the money to build it. They have no real talent, wouldn't make it a lap on a real track."  
"Seems like y'all have a similar problem that we do. Rich boys with dangerous toys. Build 'em a car and they think they can beat anything. It's the main reason I hate street racing."  
"Especially since those ridiculous movies, every time I see them, I gag."  
"I know what you mean," said David as they both began to laugh.  
"Speaking of a built car," he started after the laughter, "that's a pretty good 2000GT to keep up with this beast."  
"I have done a few things to it," said Haruka, "mostly a turbocharger, a straight exhaust, head job, and a bottom end rebuild."  
"Still the Yamaha built engine?"  
"Yeah, never changed it, besides the bottom end and the head job."  
"How much boost are you running?"  
"10 psi, I don't want the piston to fly through the oil pan."  
"Yeah, know what you mean," he said as he looked down at his watch, "Man, it's almost 10."  
"Time flies when you are having fun," Haruka laughed.  
"Yeah, and I've got that test tomorrow."  
"Isn't it at Twin Ring Motegi?"  
"Yep, it is. Why? Interested in goin'?"  
"Actually, I have testing for the Super Taikyu Series."  
"Really? Cool, I'll see you there, then."  
Haruka smiled, "Yep, see you then. Hey, I might have a few friends there that would like to meet you."  
"Oh, yeah?" he smiled back, "I'll have to see if a girl I just met can go, too."  
"Don't make a bad name for yourself too early," She teased.  
"Don't have to worry about that. Me and her have a good connection."  
"Yeah, definitely invite her."  
David gave a light laugh, "I need all the fans I can get to cheer me on, you know."  
"It does help."  
"Well, I'll catch you tomorrow, Ms. Tenoh."  
Haruka nodded and sat into her car and pulled off and David watched until he couldn't see her anymore. "Sure am meeting some interestin' people here," he thought to himself, "I hope Makoto can watch me tomorrow." He sat into his Fairlady Z and took off for his hotel. As he laid in bed, he began to wonder what Makoto was doing. At the same time Makoto began to fall asleep with David on her mind and wondering what he was doing at the same time, "Good night, David."  
"Good Night, Mako," David said.  
  
As Makoto awoke that Saturday morning, a thought had just reoccurred from earlier in the week. Haruka was having a test session today and so was David. "Oh, great. I told Haruka I could make it, what if," her thought was interrupted with a phone call. "Moshi Moshi! Kino, Makoto."  
"Mornin' Mako, it's David."  
"Hi, how are you?"  
"Nervous, again."  
"Awe, you'll be fine. I'm sure you'll pass the tests with no problem."  
"I hope so. I wouldn't mind a bit of a fan base here, though."  
"I'm sorry, another friend of mine is in Motegi."  
"Really? That's where I'm testin', too."  
"What? You are? That's great! I'll get to see you today!" she could hardly contain herself.  
David laughed, "Yep, you will. You'll also get to meet someone who I met last night. She's also driving, but in a different series."  
"Oh? Who is she?" Makoto asked.  
"Haruka Tenoh."  
Makoto nearly dropped the phone, "No way. That's my friend!"  
"Really? She did mention something about gettin' some of her friends to come with her. No offence, but, would never have thought it would be you. That was some odds."  
"David?"  
"Yeah?" he responded.  
"Could I ride with you up there?"  
"Um," he paused, "I'm taking a 'copter there."  
"Oh," she gulped. It may not have been an airplane, but it still flew and was an aircraft. "David, please don't fly in that. Please don't fly at all!"  
"It's the fastest way there, how else will I go?"  
"Drive! Please? Even if you don't pick me up!"  
There was a knock at David's door, "Hang on a sec, Mako. I've got someone at the door," he opened it up and saw Aguri. He smiled and waived him in, "Sorry for bein' on the phone, Aguri, sir."  
"Don't worry about it," Aguri replied and smiled, "and don't call me sir! Just Aguri."  
"Is that your boss?" Makoto asked over the phone.  
"Yes, it is, Mako," David said.  
"Ah, tell the young man I'm sorry for disturbing your conversation," said Aguri.  
"Uh, Agu," David tried before Makoto's voice came out.  
"Young man? Young man! Inform him I am a girl!" She yelled, and David got an earful.  
"Oh, my word!" Aguri said, nervously, "I am most apologetic! I didn't mean that in offence! Wait, a young girl? David, would you like to explain that to me after the conversation is over?"  
"Uh!" David was now even more nervous.  
"And explain to him that you are not to fly!" Makoto demanded.  
"Uh!" David looked like he was going to pop.  
"She's says you can not fly? Why is that?"  
"Because you don't need to be killed in that thing!"  
"It's the fastest way there!" Aguri stated.  
"He can drive!" Makoto stated back.  
"If he drove, he would need to leave now to get there in time!"  
"Then, he can leave now and pick me up on the way!"  
"Is this why you don't want him to fly?" Aguri asked, knowing how both David and she would react.  
"Hey!" David and Makoto yelled.  
Aguri put on a sly smile, "Ok, you two can drive there. On one condition, David has to introduce me to you."  
"I think he can do that," Makoto stated for him.  
"I don't get a word in this?" David asked.  
"Nope," both Aguri and Makoto said.  
"I'll see you two there, David, Makoto," said Aguri as he began to leave, "Please be there on time, Dave, Tokyo traffic can be a hassle."  
"Yes, Aguri," said David.  
"David," Makoto said.  
"Yes."  
"Please pick me up on time," she chuckled.  
He made a slight grunt, "I could almost say you two had this planned."  
"David,"  
"Yes."  
"Thank you very much."  
He smiled and didn't say anything, just to get her stirred.  
"David?"  
He continued to wait, "David! I'm sorry! Dav,"  
"Your welcome, Mako," he laughed.  
"Oh, you are evil," she laughed back.  
"I'll see you in a bit."  
"Okay."  
"Bye."  
"Bye," Makoto said just before hearing David hang up. Just as soon as she did, the phone rang again."  
"Hello, Kino, Makoto."  
"Morning, Mako-chan," Haruka said on the phone.  
"Oh, Good Morning Haruka-san!"  
"You need a ride to Motegi?"  
"Nope, I actually have that covered."  
"You do? That's good. How are you getting there?"  
"It's a secret! I can't tell!"  
"Oh? Okay. Guess I'll see when I get there, huh?"  
"Yep! How are the others coming?"  
"Well, of course Michiru is coming with me and so is Hotaru. I guess Setsuna can ride with me now. She was going to drive herself, but now I can save her the gas money. Usagi, Minako, Rei, and Ami will be riding with Mamoru-san. That only leaves you and your mystery ride."  
"Good, I'll see you all there, then!"  
"Okay, see you, Mako-chan!"  
"Bye, Haruka-san."  
  
After she was out of the shower and dressed, Makoto began to put her socks on, David's car could also then be heard. She smiled to herself threw on her shoes and stepped outside, but didn't see his car. She was perplexed at this, then remembered how loud the Fairlady was. However, just a few moments later, she saw him begin to enter the apartment parking lot. She went back inside and began to pack some things to eat. David parked the car like normal, backing into the spot and got out. He was wearing an old T- shirt that had a picture of his old dirt modified he drove before he entered the Goody's Dash Series, a pair of loose blue jeans, black tennis shoes, and a pair of form fitting sunglasses. He went up stairs and knocked on her door.  
"Come in!" Makoto yelled.  
David did as he was told, "Ready?"  
"Almost. Just putting the bread in the basket."  
"Why are you doin' that?"  
"Lunch, drinks, and something for us to munch on as we go."  
He laughed, "My mom used to do that on our trip to Tennessee, only, it was an eight hour trip."  
"We're going to get there at about 9 or 9:30, right?"  
"Yeah, just enough time to spare if traffic isn't bad," David said.  
"Well, I am done. We can go now," she smiled at him and he smiled back.  
David opened the door for her and he followed her downstairs. He used the little key fob to open the hatch and which allowed her to put the basket of food in. Then, he opened her car door and helped her sit in. He fired the car up when he entered the driver's side and closed the door. It was surprisingly quiet compared to the outside, though the engine exhaust could still be heard. He put the racing style harness on, but, Makoto was having a bit of a hard time doing so. He was so used to it, the routine became second nature and forgot how hard it can be to put on the first time with someone new.  
"Want some help?" He asked.  
"Yes, please," she nearly pleaded.  
"Here, watch me," he undid his, "First comes the one in the center, then the two shoulder harnesses get clicked in, then the two for the lap. Then, you twist the cam till you hear the firm click," the cam made the click he described, "Like that."  
"Oh," Makoto said, feeling somewhat dimwitted and did it just like David did.  
"One more step," David added, "Pull on the straps on the shoulder harnesses and on the lap harnesses. Get them as tight as possible, but still being reasonably comfortable. And don't worry about not knowin' how to do it. It's somethin' you have to get used to, I've done it for so long, it's natural now."  
She smiled at him and his encouragement. She didn't feel quite as stupid as she did before with his advice. David smiled back and put the car into first gear after she adjusted the belts. He slipped it forward and out of the parking lot. Near the point where he shifted, the engine exhaust note could be heard inside more, but it still wasn't as loud as it was outside. But the part that most amazed her was the fact that his shifts could hardly be felt except for the fact of the car pushing her back into the seat each time. Even with Haruka, she could feel a slight jerk, and with Mamoru, it was a little more pronounced. "How do you do that?" She asked.  
"Do what?" David asked.  
"Make the car feel so smooth when you change gears. It's almost like you aren't doing it at all."  
"Just many years of practice and gettin' the correct feel for it. My grandfather was a racer, he taught me how to drive and race a car. My parents weren't too thrilled at the idea, either. My dad was a doctor and did a lot of stuff for NASCAR and the infield care centers at Martinsville and Richmond. He was even on hand for some of my accidents. He wasn't at my worst one, though."  
"Should I even ask about that?"  
"I'm here aren't I?"  
"Oh."  
"Sorry, I get that question a lot whenever I mention the words 'my worst wreck.' But, yeah, it's not really a big deal. In fact, the way it happened was probably the best way to have a wreck, if there is such a thing."  
"What did happen?"  
"Well, I was comin' down the front stretch at Daytona, the first race of the season. Me and Jim Hedrick were racin' for first place in the last ten laps. I was on the high groove, the uppermost lane of the track, and he was on my inside. Coming out of turn Four, there is a bump that will upset the car if you hit it wrong, and he did. He slid into me, I slam into the wall. I'm careening down towards pit lane when the car hit's the grass between the track and the pit lane. Well, my right hand tires are flat and the car's chassis is scraping the ground, when it hit's the grass, it causes it to roll. It begins to flip around parts of the body come flyin' off, the rear end tears away from the suspension, a tire broke off and headed up the track, and I land right side up. That's great, except for the fact that I slide just enough to be clipped by another guy, he be nearly catches air and I'm spinnin' like a top until the friction from the chassis and the track make me stop."  
Now the trunk of the car is gone along with the fuel cell, the hood is bent up like it was in a bomb explosion and is laying on the track upside down, the driver's side body panels are gone, the front bumper cover is hangin' on by a rivet or two, the rear part of the passenger's door and the entire right rear quarter panel are gone, the rear window is crushed in, parts of the roof are gone, the rear quarter windows are gone, the front windshield is nearly laying on me, the greenhouse part of the chassis is bent down and slightly to the right, and my helmet is scratched because of where part of the roof is missing."  
Makoto's eyes are wide in amazement. From what he just described, David shouldn't be driving now! He should be in a hospital still or six feet under.  
"Ironic thing is, the rollin' is what kept me from being really hurt. It takes the inertia from the crash, but it's a weird feelin'. From hearing the scrapes and squealin' to nothin' is just something you wouldn't expect. Anyway, I get out of the car, wave to the crowd lettin' them know I'm alright, and find out that Mr. Hedrick drove away. I wanted to give that guy a piece of my mind, I actually got the chance in my final race at Atlanta. He caused another wreck and a win from me for the last time. But, that's another story."  
Makoto reached over and pinched him and he yelped. "What was that for?" David asked.  
"To see if you are really here," she responded.  
"Yep, I'm really here."  
Makoto smiled at him and somewhat laughed, "That's very good, then."  
"Yes, it is," David smiled back, "What do you do in your spare time?"  
"I ice skate or cook."  
"Ice skate? That's pretty neat, I've never done it before."  
"I could teach you, if you want."  
"Really? How good are you?" he teased.  
"I almost went on a world tour with a famous Russian ice skater once, but, I decided against it because of the fact I would miss my friends too much," she lightly fibbed the last part.  
"Oh, wow. That is good!" he smiled and stated in near amazement, "I would have never imagined, no offence."  
"Why is that?"  
"You're such a good cook, mostly."  
She began to smile, "And you haven't eaten anything else made by me yet!"  
"I hope to," he smiled at her again.  
She smiled back to him and her eyes had a starry look to them, "I want you to, too."  
David nodded and began pay more attention to the road again. Every once in a while, her hand wondered to his when he propped it on the arm rest. She would gently hold it or squeezed it when she felt a bit nervous, usually because he took a turn faster than she expected. Soon, the flat city turned into hilly countryside, which made Makoto even more comfortable. She would peer though the window and watch the trees fly by and see various farm animals every so often. She paid special attention to the horses grazing in a field, Makoto had a special attraction to those animals. Everyone she saw she fell more and more in love with. After an hour and a half of driving, a pit stop was needed for gas and relief. He found an Esso station and pulled into it.  
"I'm gonna to need your help here," said David.  
"I know, you don't know Japanese," she nodded and smiled.  
He swiped his card into the machine and she instructed him what the machine said. He picked up the gas handle and looked at the selection, she described each to him, and he became puzzled.  
"Leaded gas? I wondered why the nozzle was so big," said David.  
"What's wrong with 'leaded gas?'" Makoto asked.  
"Oh, nothin', really. Just pollutes more, but it does give more power. We only use leaded gas in race cars in the States. We use unleaded in normal cars."  
He began to fill the car up as Makoto went in to use the restroom. The pump clicked indicating the car was full, but David gave it a few more tugs to make sure and make the price even, an odd habit he had. He then walked inside and took a look around. Most everything was in Japanese, save for a few shirts, hats, and some American products. He looked at the hats and shirts with American words on them, but they made no sense.  
"'I make special happy!'?" David looked really confused and read a hat with an arrow pointing down, "'Strong'. What crack head came up with these things? He could have at least made them make sense."  
"55 yen each!" Stated the attendant, "A specerl rlailr taki!"  
"Say what? You're not serious are you? They make no sense!"  
The attendant looked at David oddly, "Yu no lreki?"  
"Honestly, no."  
Makoto heard them as she came out of the bathroom.  
"I'm sorry, um," she looked at the name tag, "Sushiro-san, but David- kun isn't interested in these. He only needed gas."  
"Oh, I see. But these are a real steal! How can David-sama not want one? Why not he buy one for you, miss?" the attendant asked.  
"Because he can actually read the English on them and knows that they make no sense."  
The attendant had a shocked look on his face when Makoto said what she did.  
She smiled at David and said, "Let's go."  
He nodded and followed her to the door, "What did you tell him? He had a shocked impression on his face."  
"I only told him you knew English," she replied.  
"Oh, okay," he started the car and drove away with the attendant still stunned.  
"Great, and I thought I was getting the hang of English!" Sushiro said.  
  
As the country side returned to a more city like scene, David looked over to Makoto; she was staring through the window, "It's been a long time since I came out this way," she said, "That, plane, crashed not far from here."  
"I see," said David, "Guess I can't really blame you."  
"No, I need to come here more often," she said, "I need to stronger than this about it."  
"Do you know where the site is?"  
"Not really, why?"  
"Sometimes, gettin' over a tragedy will help conquer the fear."  
"Sounds like you have experience in that."  
"Atlanta Motorspeedway used to scare me because of what happened to a close friend of mine."  
She looked over to him, "What happened?"  
"He had a tire blow out during a Winston Cup test session, goin' into turn one. That's the fastest part of the track, nearly 200 miles per hour. He hit outside wall so hard that the right tire imbedded itself into the lower door bars. This was before the HANS device was requested by NASCAR."  
"Oh, that sounds so horrible," she said with sad eyes.  
"Gets worse," David said.  
"How can it possibly get worse?" she thought as he began to continue.  
"The crash didn't kill him, but it left him in a coma for over two years. When he did awake, he was just a vegetable. You can see the agony in his eyes when his head is towards you. I couldn't stand to see him anymore after the first month, but I didn't want to ever race at that track. Not after that."  
"How old was he when it happened?" Makoto asked.  
"He had just turned eighteen a week before the crash. I was just seventeen and beginnin' to race the Dash Series. I kept racin', but I had a 'relief' driver, so to speak, for the Atlanta race. My last race was the first time I ran there since that incident."  
"He was only a year older than you?"  
"Yeah," he did a light laugh, "The dummy would have graduated with me, though. He flunked eleventh grade because 'his racin' got in the way.' We all knew it was because he slept in class. Because of that crash, he didn't get to graduate at all."  
"I'm sorry," she lightly rubbed his hand, "I honestly can't understand how you can even get into a car, much less a racecar, after that."  
"It's a job I enjoy too much to just give up. I accepted the dangers when I first climbed into one and ran my first race. I know what can happen and accept it." A light thunderclap and a few droplets of rain formed on the windshield, "Rain? This is goin' to make things interestin'."  
"How interesting?" Makoto worried.  
"Never done it before," he replied, but then reassured her, "that's not to say that I can't."  
"Oh," she stated, still unsure.  
This time, David rubbed her hand and smiled, "I'll be fine. I've got enough experience to drive in a race while it's rainin'."  
She only nodded her head and smiled gingerly.  
  
David then used the exit to get back onto the Joban Highway from national route R6. Then, he used the Iwama Interchange to get on Prefectural Road 61. "Man, for only 50 miles, this seems like a long ways," said David.  
"50 miles?" Makoto looked puzzled.  
"It's about 100 kilometers," he informed her.  
"Uh, I believe it has been more than just 100 kilometers."  
"Well, according to that map I had Mito City was only that far."  
She looked at him oddly, "Let me see that map."  
"It's behind your seat," he reached for it and handed it to her.  
She looked at it and laughed a bit, "Yes, Mito City is only 100 kilometers, but Motegi City is an additional 85 or 90."  
"So, it's really about 100 miles?"  
She nodded, "How'd you screw that up?"  
"Well, I did look at it in a hurry. I thought I was goin' by helicopter today, until you decided I couldn't."  
"Oh, blame me!"  
He laughed, "Don't worry, it's just now lookin' like 9:30 instead of 9, that's all."  
"Ok," she said, "Why are they making you take this kind of test?"  
"Just to see if I am truly capable of drivin' a road coarse and to see if I can do a driver change durin' a pit stop. Remember, not only do I have to get out of the car, I have to help my co-driver get in."  
"Oh, makes sense."  
"Yeah, I'd be pretty worthless if I couldn't. I just hope I can do it."  
"That's the part that has you worried?"  
"Well, I have never done a driver change. Not even in my Cougar, and that would be many times harder than doing it in this, though."  
"Why is that?"  
"The Cougar's doors don't open, it doesn't really have doors."  
She gave him the odd look again, "Why wouldn't it have doors?"  
"Nothin' in NASCAR has doors, as far as race cars go. Don't need them since we don't do driver changes."  
"How do you get in?"  
"Climb though the window," David pointed to his driver's side window.  
Makoto had an even more puzzled look on her face, "How do you do that?"  
He laughed, "Well, one leg at a time. But the first thing I would do is grab the roll cage right here on the roof," he pointed it out, "then I would stick my right, then left leg in, and finally slide myself down into the seat."  
"Wouldn't the steering wheel get in the way?"  
"Nope, it's removed. It has a pin that locks and lets me take it on and off."  
Makoto shook her head, "I couldn't see myself climbing though a window like that, much less you."  
"Well it was harder to get into the new seats that a Busch Series driver named Randy Lajoie created. They are molded to fit that driver and are more safe than the old Butler seats."  
"What is a Butler seat? Sounds like something a rich person would have," Makoto kidded.  
"Nah, just the name of the company who made it. It would hold you by the ribs as far as the side support goes. It wasn't hard to come out of a crash with broken ribs. The newer Lajoie seats hold you by the shoulders, which are stronger than the ribs. The seat is a little more comfortable because it fits that driver to a t, but it is very expensive. I think they go for more than ten grand, US."  
"Wow, that's nearly over one million yen!"  
David blinked, "It is? Gee, makes it seem really over priced."  
Makoto smiled back, "Yeah, 1 yen isn't that much when compared to the US dollar."  
He shook his head, "Crazy, just crazy. That would almost make it worth less than a penny!"  
She nodded back, "Yeah, somewhere near there. Ami should be able to figure it out faster than me."  
"We did pretty good ourselves."  
She laughed and sighed, "I do want to visit America one day. Just not by plane, by boat or something."  
"Well, if you want to keep up with me, you will. The JGTC will race in California towards the end of the season. That's gonna to be a big race to me, it will be my only real home track."  
"That does sound very, um, 'rough?'"  
He nodded, "Yeah, I'm so used to havin' a track or two, or even more, being near me and callin' home turf, but, that's really changed. I guess Motegi can sorta be considered my Japanese home track since it is so close to my home here."  
"Speaking of which," she looked towards him, "when do I get to see your home?"  
"Well, if we continue my groundin', this will pretty much be my home."  
"The track?"  
"No, the car."  
"Oh."  
"Well, I take that back. The schedule isn't as filled as my Dash one was. I was constantly on the move week to week. It wasn't part of the 'weekly series' for nothin'."  
"I see," said Makoto, "Is that other series any better?"  
"What do you mean?" David asked.  
"That top series that your friend was testing for, is the schedule any better than the Goodys Dash?"  
"No, it's a bit worse. It has a thirty-five race schedule, the Dash has about twenty or so, the JGTC only has ten to twelve."  
"So, you will be able to see me more often than you would if you still drove in it?"  
"Yep," David smiled to her as he turned onto R51, which would lead to the East Gate of Twin Ring Motegi.  
"Is there a difference in driving that Fairlady compaired to the Cougar?" Makoto asked.  
"Yes, there is," he replied, "The suspension on the Fairlady is independent, each wheel moves up and down on it's own. The Cougar has a solid axle rear end, which means that the rear will not move as independently as they would in the prior one. It makes cornering harder, but on the ovals it's perfect. As odd as this may sound, the 'loser' the car, the faster it really is."  
"'Loser?'"  
"Makin' the rear of the car come around more than the front. You don't have to be on the brakes as much as a 'tight' car. Being 'tight' means the front end of the car doesn't want to turn."  
"Both situations sound bad, to me."  
"Yeah, a car that is too free will cause you to crash. But a car that is tight will wear the front tires a bit worse. In stock car racin', you rather have a car too free than tight."  
"Why is that?"  
"You just let up on the gas until the rear catches up. A tight car won't always come back to you which means you have to compensate even more and lose more time."  
"Oh, so, how do you compensate for a 'tight' car?"  
"Movin' up the track and staying off the gas, unless you can free it up by applying more gas. It's a feel situation and have to get used to each to know what to really do."  
As he finished his sentence, David had reached the East Gate. The security guard stopped them and David showed him his pass, then was waived on. The sound of the Super Takiyu cars could be heard, meaning they missed a part of Haruka's laps. David then parked the Z next to the Team Gouka car hauler and he shut off the engine. He pressed a button near the center of the dashboard that allowed the rear hatch to open, then popped off the belts and got out. David then quickly made his way over to the passenger's side and helped Makoto out and grabbed the picnic basket on his way back around. They both entered the hauler and he set it on a bench next to a transmission. "You might not want to follow me in here, Mako," David laughed, "I have to get dressed into my 'business suit.'"  
She smiled, nodded and said, "Okay." Makoto watched as he entered the front of the hauler and closed the door. She looked around as she waited for him, beginning to wonder what all the doors and drawers held. There was a large cabinet that was open and she peeked inside. It held a complete engine in a metal crate, ready to be used just incase the main one failed for any reason. Behind it was an empty metal crate of the same size and shape. On it was the Japanese Kanji for "Main," she guess that was where the actual motor used in the car most of the time was held. She looked up and saw that the roof wasn't complete and was split in the middle. In the very front, just before the little room that David went in, sat another car. She couldn't see much of it because the bottom was covered, "Why is it covered up?" she wondered to herself, "To hide some secrets?" Soon, David emerged from the room and was dressed in his racing uniform. It had Tein on the front of it with a white stripe for a background, the bottom and top of the suit was orange and the sides of his pants and sleeves had a similar scheme. On his shoulders were little straps that connected where the top of the sleeve and the torso part of the uniform seemed to connect together, "Why do you have straps on your uniform?"  
"To help pull me out if I need help gettin' out of the car."  
"Oh." In his right hand was his helmet, it looked like it was ripping apart and little metal plates were showing through along with some computer circuits. It made it look as if he was mechanical instead of human, but it was just how it was painted. It wasn't really doing that.  
"This is the same helmet I wore in the Cougar," David said as she looked at it, "I wanted it to show how I am behind the wheel of the car. Accurate and powerful, like a machine, and just as intimidatin' and indestructible as the helmet looks."  
"Wow, that's a powerful way of expressing it."  
"I thought so, too. It's why it's my favorite of the three I have."  
"Why do you have so many?"  
"To pass regulations, rules, and because I wanted a new helmet," he laughed.  
"Oh," she smiled.  
"My, my, what a rainstorm!" Aguri announced himself as he rushed in from the rain.  
"Hi, Aguri," David said, "This is the 'young lady' you wanted me to introduce to you, Makoto Kino."  
"Oh, I see," Aguri bowed then coyly smiled to David, "I really do 'see.' Well, we need you to your car, David. Let's go!" He reached into a drawer and pulled out an umbrella that had springs, shocks, and coilovers all over it along with the word Tein. He put it over the three before they sat into a golf cart and drove off to the paddocks. When they reached them, Haruka's car had just pulled into her garage and her team began to work on it. It was parked right beside the Fairlady Z of David's. Minako, Ami, Michiru, Rei, Usagi, Setsuna, and Mamoru were standing waiting for her to get out. Hotaru was at first not seen until they got right up to the car. The right hand side of her bumper and the right rear quarter panel were beat in, done by a rookie in Turn Nine, the Hairpin Curve. Haruka nearly was cursing a storm before getting out, but no one could hear her. The left front and front bumper were a little beat in, as well. She had paid him back in Turn Eleven, the Victory Corner.  
"Hey, guys!" Makoto waived.  
Haruka was the first to respond, "Hi, so, what was this 'mystery ride?'"  
"He's sitting to my right."  
Haruka hadn't noticed until Makoto said something, it was the guy she met just last night. The American driver for Team Aguri, David Goddard. "You know David Goddard?"  
"Yes, very well," she smiled to Haruka.  
"Uh, I know you guys can speak near perfect English, so, could you, please?" David requested.  
"I'm sorry David," said Makoto with a teasing type of apologetic face.  
"Attention in the Paddock! Attention in the Paddock! The joint test session for the Japanese Grand Touring Championships will begin in five minutes! Drivers to their Paddocks to prepare for monsoon conditions! Again, drivers and teams are to report to their Paddocks to prepare for monsoon conditions, the track will reopen in five minutes!" The announcer came over the Public Address system in Japanese.  
"What was that?" David asked.  
"Begin to get ready to drive," Aguri replied, "the track will reopen in five minutes. Sound like it is going to be one hell of a rainstorm!"  
"Yeah, this is going to be different," David thought to himself. Makoto's hand quietly went to his and she squeezed it to comfort him. He smiled to her, which she knew was a thank you sign, she smiled back in "your welcome."  
Haruka caught the sight, but quickly looked another way as she thought to herself, "They seem to be a good match, nearly reading their own minds, even."  
"David, go ahead and get yourself situated in the car. I want you to drive it first," Aguri said as Momiji walked from the paddock stall in front of theirs'.  
"You alright with that, Moji?" asked David.  
"What, a little rain have you worried," Momiji teased.  
David shook his head.  
"You'll be fine, Dave. Just take an easy on the course at first and get used to it," Momiji reassured him, "It's a challenge, but, not one you can't handle."  
David nodded, his nerves were still rattling him. He never drove a race car in the rain, but he had the training for it. He tried to stay calm and keep his breathing steady, but it still wasn't working too well. "What if I wreck it? What will the press say? What will Aguri say? Would he keep me on the team if I do?" He kept thinking over and over again in his mind.  
"Hey, you will be alright," Makoto spoke up, "I know you will do alright. Let's get you in there, maybe some of your nerves will unwind. "  
David nodded again and looked at her. His breathing became more steady, but one could tell he was still worrying himself. Makoto wrapped her left arm around his waist and walked with him to the NISMO Fairlady Z. David then sat down into the car and began to put his belts on. It was very similar to his Z, but it had six belts instead of five. Makoto put her hand on his lap and he held it, then blinked a couple of times before closing his eyes and bowing his head down. She watched him as he quietly said something to himself.  
"What are you saying?" She asked.  
David quietly looked up at her and said, "A Racer's Prayer."  
"A Racer's Prayer?"  
He smiled and nodded, "I do it every time I get into a race car and drive it like this."  
"How does it go?"  
"You really want to know?" David asked and Makoto nodded. He then recited the words:  
"Lord, my Father in Heaven,  
Please look over me and my crew,  
And protect them from what may happen,  
And help them in their time in need.  
Oh, Lord, Please protect the other drivers,  
So that they may compete with me again,  
For they are also my companions.  
Lord, please protect my and my companions' families,  
We need them to cheer us on in even the worst times.  
Lord, I thank you for helping me in my times of need and joy,  
And I do not take you for granted.  
Bless everyone here and bless you Lord,  
Amen."  
Makoto smiled, "You recite that every time?"  
David nodded, "Always have."  
"Attention in the Paddock! Attention in the Paddock! The track is now open! Drivers to their cars and to the end of Pit Lane! The official test for the JGTC will commence immediately!" The announcer came over the PA.  
"David, time to go!" Aguri said.  
"Okay, I'm ready!" David responded and began to put his fire mask on, but Makoto stopped him and kissed him on the forehead.  
"For, luck," she lightly hesitated. David just smiled back and put the mask and helmet on. He then flipped the various switches on and waited for the crew to put the passenger door on an close it. They gave him a thumbs up sign, a couple threw him the victory sign, including Momiji and Haruka. He closed his door, with Makoto helping, and he waived to her. She blew him a kiss just before he turned to start the car, the final switch, and his heart was racing. He flipped it up and it started, he revved it up a couple of times and it backfired. Save for Haruka, it was the loudest thing the girls heard in a long time.  
"Ok, we are dropping the car down, David," Hani Kabel, the car's crew chief, came over the radio.  
"Ten-Four," David responded. The car sat down on the ground, a guy behind him cleared him to back out and head towards the end of the pit lane. David shifted the Z into reverse and backed out, rain could be heard impacting the carbon fiber body as more and more of the car was exposed. Once it was completely out of the Paddock, he shifted it into first gear and flipped the windshield wiper on. It's little motor could just be heard over the exhaust as he idled for a moment, then rolled the car off. The light was still red as he crept up to the line, he looked over to the official who was checking the car over to make sure his running lights were on. The official gave the clear sign to him and to the control tower, and the light turned green. He dumped the clutch and a large rooster tail of rain shot out of the car. It dog tracked to the right slightly and David straightened it out before getting on the actual part of the track. He had to be because in just a short distance from the exit was the ninety degree right hand corner, the First Corner. It lead into the Second Corner, which was a similar ninety degree right hand corner. He was in third gear by the time he exited and was going down a fast straight and was in fifth gear by he reached the Third Corner. It was a left hand corner, less than ninety degrees and was a bit tighter as well. It swept into the Fourth Corner, another left hand corner that was a bit tighter than Third. Both, however, were taken in third gear, but the rear of the car got a bit wild on him, "Easy, car! I'm doing my best." The Fairlady entered the long, downhill straight before entering Fifth Corner, a forty-five degree right hand corner that would lead into the tunnel the road coarse ran under the oval track. Climbing though the gears, David entered the braking zone for turn six, the right hand 130R. It was named so because of the radius of the turn. A fairly easy corner, taken in fourth gear, but almost as soon as you exited it, you came up to the seventh corners. A left, right set named simply as S Curve that was taken in third gear with some slight trail- braking.  
Upon the exit of the right hand portion, you enter the braking zone for the eighth corner, the V Curve, that could be taken in third as well, but it was pushing it because of the rain. The Fairlady let David know, too, by fishtailing throughout the apex and exit. He kept it under control with a steady feathering of the gas. Next was a small dogleg straight that allowed him to climb into fifth gear, then slow way down for the tightest and slowest part of the course corner 9, the Hairpin Curve. The car was starting to become a handful as he was shifting into first gear and braking to slow it down enough. It almost wasn't because he had drifted very high into the corner, nearly touching the grass over the curbing. Once he had it back where he wanted, it was full throttle for the fastest and longest part of Motegi, the 762 meter long straight. He was nearly guaranteed to be at top speed once he entered the braking zone for turn ten, the Ninety Degree Corner. He absolutely had to be slowed enough for this corner or the car would end up in the sand pit and probably would require a wrecker to get out of it. Once again, the Z got untamed during the braking and would lock the front brakes. Flat spotting the tires weren't really and issue, but getting the car slowed was. He did get it slowed enough for the corner, but, it ran up in the higher groove again. This wouldn't allow him to really set the car up right for the exit and the two left hand corners after the short straights. He got through them fine, but turn 11, the final turn known as Victory Corner, would be a hassle. It was a ninety degree corner just like ten, but he didn't carry as much speed, either. He got on the brakes for it, and again the front wheels locked up slightly. David was able to get the car though this one as well, but, the rear end was swung out nearly as much as a drifter would do. This "drift" would slow him for the Pit Straight and his current time would show it, however, this lap wouldn't really count. It was his first time on the track and mistakes were a given, he would get faster and better as the day went on.  
"Say, Makoto-chan," said Aguri, "Would you like to be David's Umbrella Girl?"  
"David's Umbrella Girl?" Makoto asked, looking from the monitor showing David's progress, "What does that mean?"  
"It means you dress up very sexy and hold a large umbrella over David," Haruka said, "Michiru has done it for me a couple of times." She flashed a sly smile to Makoto and Michiru, with the latter of the two blushing and nervous.  
"Haruka, you said you wouldn't bring that up!" Michiru stated.  
"I had to explain it somehow," Haruka smiled.  
"Dressing sexy? Who mentioned it?" Minako immediately picked up on the conversation.  
"Aguri was asking if I wanted to be David-san's Umbrella Girl," Makoto said.  
"If you won't do it, I will, then!" Minako stated.  
"What? No, I mean, well, that is," Makoto stumbled out.  
"Hey, is it alright if I do so as well?" Rei popped up.  
"Yeah, that sounds fun!" Usagi said behind her.  
"I won't take part," Ami said.  
"Awe, don't be such a downer, Ami-chan!" Minako said.  
"Have you picked a design for them?" asked Setsuna.  
"Why, no I haven't yet. Why do you ask?" said Aguri.  
"Well, I have always wanted to be a seamstress and a clothing designer, and well," Setsuna paused.  
"Well, I guess I have my designer, then," Aguri nodded his head to her.  
"Oh, thank you, Aguri-san!"  
"Please, call me Aguri! Not even David can call me Aguri-san."  
"Ok, thank you, Aguri," Setsuna corrected.  
"Oh, is Makoto going to be the only umbrella girl?" Minako asked.  
"Well, I have seen a team have as many as six, so, I think I have my girls for my team standing in front of me," said Aguri.  
"Oh, no I really couldn't!" Ami began, "I wouldn't have the time! Too much studying, keeping myself ahead. That sort of thing."  
"Nonsense, you will have plenty of time," Aguri assured her, "I'll only need you for the races and possibly some press conferences. Other than that, you are free to do what you may please. Also you will have Meioh-san to come up with the outfit. Who better to design it than a person you are comfortable with?"  
"Please," Setsuna began, "Call me Setsuna-chan."  
Aguri nodded, "Please Mizuno-san?"  
Ami pondered for a moment, then sighed, "Okay, I'll do it. I would have been forced into it eventually. Oh, and Please call me Ami-chan."  
"Thank you, Ami-chan."  
"I've got a question, how are we going to all hold an umbrella over David-san?" Minako asked.  
"Well, my son, Momiji, would also need one," said Aguri, "Momiji, come over here and meet these young ladies. They will be our Umbrella Team."  
Momiji walked over from the bench that a crew member and he were discussing timing problems with the valve train, as soon as he had turned around, all the girls save for Setsuna, Michiru, Haruka, and Makoto, melted and had a sparkle in their eyes.  
Ami, however, just blushed and thought to herself, "Oh, my. He is quite handsome."  
Only one girl caught his eyes, her dark raven hair, slender smooth legs, and her violet eyes. Momiji felt like himself and she were the only two standing then. "Um, hi. I'm Kaneishi, Momiji," he said as he extended his hand to her first.  
"Hino, Rei," she bowed as she took his hand.  
"Hino? As in Representative Hino-sama?" Aguri said somewhat wide eyed.  
"Yes, he," she had a slight pause, "is my father."  
"Oh, my, well, if I had known we were going to have this kind of company I,"  
"Would have what? I'm no more special than my friends here!" Rei nearly yelled in anger.  
"My front brakes are lockin' up on hard corners! Damn dog won't hunt!" David came over the radio, somewhat breaking the tension that was trying to build.  
"Don't use quite as much front brake as you are, turn the bias knob to the right a click or two," said Momiji as he held the button on the side of the headset on, "The engineers always put too much front brake in, don't know why."  
"Ten-four."  
After Ami's translation, Usagi, in her innocence, asked, "What did he mean, 'dog won't hunt?' Why is there a dog in his car and how is it hunting?"  
"What he means is the car isn't driving like he wants it to," Momiji smiled, "And, no, there is no dog." The rest of the girls were glad Usagi had asked, as they also had no idea what David was saying, including for the first time, Ami.  
"Yeah, much better!" David came over the radio again, "It feels like it also had too large of a gear, doesn't boogity out the corner too well."  
"Give it a bit of time, David, the car is still a bit cold," Hani said, "You're tires aren't even up to tempeature. It will take a lap or two to get it there. You're also coming out of the corner too aggressive, be easier on the accelator."  
"Ten-four. I'll keep that lead out of my foot."  
Usagi looked at Momiji, her eyes telling what she was about to ask. He just shook his head and smiled and Usagi went back to watching.  
David's wild spells behind the wheel had Makoto worried, seeing the car going too far and it catching sideways. Every time it did so, she wince and almost take her eyes off the screen.  
"You going to be ok, Mako-chan?" Minako asked.  
Makoto jumped and angrily said, "Can't you announce when you are going to sneak up on someone?"  
"Wow, sorry Mako-chan. Didn't know you were keeping such attention on your," Minako began a wide grin, "boyfriend!" Makoto then began to do what Minako had wanted her to, blush redder than a tomato.  
"Oh, have you guys kissed yet?" Usagi immediately followed behind Minako, evilly smiling just as she did.  
"Uh, uh, well, I, that, I just kissed him on the forehead, that's all!" Makoto blundered out.  
"Oh? What next? Him feeling you," Minako started.  
"Hey! David-ku, er, -san isn't like that!" Makoto said, even redder.  
"What? You mean you know?" Usagi followed again.  
"Yes, no! No! We haven't. No!" Makoto continued to blurt.  
"Those two, I swear," Rei said out loud, but Ami was the only to really hear her.  
"Yes, I know," she agreed.  
Setsuna, Michiru, Hotaru, and Haruka just looked at the sight, "What do you suppose they have Mako-chan in such a fit about?" Michiru asked.  
"Yes, Haruka-papa, she does look a bit tense," Hotaru noticed as well.  
Haruka just sighed, "Probably over David-san, it would seem as if they both have gotten close. Especially on how they are teasing her."  
Setsuna laughed, "It is quite cute, however. It's such an easy way to tell how Makoto feels about him."  
"Of course you know how she feels, don't you?" Haruka asked.  
"The art of fortune telling is a imperfect practice, however, body language is much better" Setsuna only replied.  
"Haruka-papa, you know Setsuna-chan can't tell you," said Hotaru.  
"I know, I know, but I can still pry," Haruka smiled.  
"Well, I know where prying will get you, Haruka," Michiru said.  
  
"Will you two stop?" Makoto finally pleaded.  
"Why? Because we are getting so close to the truth?" Usagi asked.  
"No! Because I don't want to answer! How I feel about David isn't really your businesses."  
"Oh, but it is!" Minako declared, then got closer to her to whisper, "Besides, wouldn't you want him to get closer to you as well?"  
"Yeah, isn't that the ultimate goal?" Usagi said, just as close and quiet.  
"Um, I guess," Makoto fell into the trap.  
"Good," Minako said, "Then you wouldn't totally mind us setting you two on a date, would you?"  
"Hey, wait! I would mind!" Makoto tried to get back out.  
"Don't worry, you can trust us," Minako put her back in, "besides, Rei is going to help us," pointing out Rei, but noticed her constant, starry eyed stare at Momiji and grumbled, "If she can get her own boy troubles off of her."  
"Well, I guess it would be okay if you set it up with Rei," Makoto said mostly to reassure herself.  
"Great! Think you will be free Friday at 19:30?"  
"What?" Makoto blinked, "Don't tell me you had this planned since you met David at my apartment?"  
"No, I just have good sources!"  
"Yeah, and don't forget Rei-chan is behind this too," Usagi reassured Makoto.  
"Okay, I can be free then, but will David-san?"  
"Don't worry, he will be," said Minako, then muttered under her breath, "if I have anything to say about it."  
"Huh?"  
"Nothing Mako-chan! Usagi-chan, please come here."  
As she did what she was told she asked, "Now what?"  
"You see that over there, right?" Minako replied, "How Rei-chan keeps staring at Momiji-san?"  
"Yeah, so?"  
"So! Rei-chan is supposed to be falling for Yuuichiru-san!"  
"Oh, yeah. Hehe, forgot."  
"And I thought that only applied to school."  
  
"David, in three more laps, the GTA will want you to come in and do the driver exchange. Pit road speed will be regulated by the limiter switch. Just push it and your speed will be controlled by it. Just keep your foot in it and don't touch the brake until you have to stop," Momiji came over the radio.  
"Yeah, great. That part," David replied.  
"Mako-san, come up here please," Aguri said, "Put this on and help David-san." He handed her his headset, "I'll wear yours."  
"Won't you need to help him?" Makoto questioned, "I doubt I will be of any help, I don't know the first thing about any of this, yet."  
"Trust me, you will help him more right now that I will," Aguri said as he helped her up.  
"How?"  
"He is very comfortable with you, you connect with him in a way I cannot. If you want to be private, switch to channel three. He will be able to hear all of us, but he will be the only one to hear you."  
Makoto began to blush a bit and thought, "Is it really that obvious how I feel about him? Maybe I am going a bit quick, I don't want to push him away. Not now!" She then nodded and sat in Aguri's seat and switched it to channel three as she was instructed.  
"David, switch to channel three,"Momiji said on the radio then looked over to Makoto, "I'll tap your shoulder when I need to talk to him, okay?"  
She nodded, then waited to hear David's voice, "Why did you want me to switch, Moji?"  
"Because they want me to talk to you," Makoto replied.  
"Mako? What are you doing on the radio?"  
"Aguri said that I could help you through this."  
"Oh, I see. Well, your voice is very soothin', that's for sure."  
"David, do you think we are moving too fast? You and I, I mean."  
"Well," he paused a bit, "Sorry, very tough part of the track. Anyway, gosh, I don't know. It's not like we are goin' very far, not yet."  
"So, you really do want to go further?"  
"I told you on the way here I wanted to be able to try more of your cookin', remember?," saying with his smile nearly being heard.  
"I remember," Makoto replied smiling just as much.  
Momiji tapped on Makoto's shoulder and she nodded, "Hey, this is Moji, you only have a lap and a half. There is also a faster car going on the track, watch out for him."  
"Faster? Well, we'll see about that," David replied.  
"See, your talking to him has worked," Momiji teased and Makoto just smiled, "Yeah, he's a new guy but has tested in this car not long ago. He was fast then, faster than me even and it was much wetter than this. This guy is just unreal, so be careful."  
"Who is he?"  
"Some guy named Daijobi Kamata."  
"What?" Makoto nearly jumped out of her seat.  
"Uh, repeat that. Did you just say Daijobi? The same jackass that tried to, well, anyway, him?" David asked.  
"Yeah, is there something I should know?"  
"Get Aguri on!"  
"Okay," Momiji turned around and handed him the headset.  
"Aguri, is this the same Daijobi that I am thinkin' of?"  
"Yes, David, Makoto, it is," Aguri confirmed their fears.  
"Does he, whoa!" David tried to ask, but his answer was confirmed, "Great, he is right behind me! And he's just stayin' with me, I just moved down to let him by, but he just followed. I think he knows."  
"Shit," Aguri cursed under his breath, "Damn police and their bribes. His father must have better connections than I do. This is going to be trouble. David, do your best, I know you will be fine."  
"Damn it! All he is doin' is pushin' me though the corner! He's tryin' to spin me!"  
Momiji jumped off the pit box and ran over to Haruka, grabbing his helmet, "You don't mind me borrowing it, do you?"  
"I owe you anyway," she agreed.  
"Thanks, this will more than pay for it!" he hopped into her car, threw on the belts and helmet, and fired it up, "Been a while, baby. Don't fail me now." As soon as the car was on the ground, he flew out of the pit stall and down the pit straight. David's Fairlady Z and Daijobi's NSX were coming hard right behind him. As they got ready to pass him, Momiji swung the rear of the Supra into the side of Daijobi's NSX. He waived to him with his middle finger and said, "Hey, how you doing?" Daijobi sent a similar sign back and forced the NSX into Momiji, "Fine by me, rookie," he backed off, but used the left front of his Supra to lift the right rear of the NSX off the ground, causing it to get nearly uncontrollable before turn 1.  
Meanwhile Aguri ran to Daijobi's team pit stall to see if he can get them to stop, "Is your driver insane? He seems just as loony as his father! Get your driver off of him or get your driver off the track!"  
"Well, I would, Aguri, but it would seem I am too 'loony,'" Moriki Kamata replied to Aguri, "that or your driver is too slow to keep up. Too fat like most American pigs."  
"That is where he got it from?" Makoto thought to herself, "He got it from his father. That poor man, his is only being influenced by his father. He really doesn't know any better."  
"Daijobi, move that American sympathizer. Then, prove to that disgraceful foreigner why Japanese drivers will always beat American ones," Moriki encouraged him.  
"You dishonorable, faceless jerk! How dare you!"  
"Go back to your stall, you have no use here."  
As he said that, Daijobi rammed into Momiji again, causing him to go off course into a sand pit, "Shit! I'm sorry, David. Please be careful!"  
"Momiji isn't going to be able to get back to the paddock," Haruka thought, then grabbed her own helmet, "Make it in David-san!" She put it on and stood on the pit wall beside the crew waiting and hoping he would make it.  
David reached for the brake bias knob and clicked it to the right a couple of more times, "That should be enough," he thought to himself. He started to formulate a plan in his head, "Once I get past turn eleven, the entry lane won't be that far ahead. With this much rear brake, I can lock them up and swing it into the pits just like a rally car. Just have to make it to turn eleven."  
Daijobi was also formulating his own plan, "Turn nine was where he had the most trouble. I can get him there if I begin to ram his rear bumper just before the exit. If not there, then turn ten, where he will need a lot of brakes. He won't make it in if I can help it! He'll be the laughing stock of the JGTC, no the racing world!"  
"Ok, I know he is going to try to use turns nine and ten against me, they are my worst spots so far. I can stay beside him through nine, but he will probably try to run me off down the long straight afterwards. If I'm not careful, he can still hook me in nine, but that will give him a problem, too. He might not do that, he just wants me and not have himself hurt in the process. Okay, here comes nine, time to fight him."  
  
"Okay, here comes nine, time to screw him worse than he tried to with me!" As they entered the braking zone of nine, David pulled to the right quickly and jammed on the brakes, nearly locking them. Daijobi didn't expect it to happen as quickly as he did it and was mostly caught off guard. David then let off the brakes and used enough acceleration to keep beside Daijobi. They stayed side by side though nine and were still door to door down the long straight. Nearing the braking zone, Daijobi pulled one on David and got nearly back behind him. However, David swung his car into Daijobi's, causing the both of them to nearly lose it. David drifted his car through ten and began his charge through eleven, with Daijobi nipping on his heels. When David was only a few yards from the entrance, he jammed on the brakes and swung into the pits like he planned. Daijobi tried to follow suit, but the car spun around and the right side of the NSX slammed into the water barrels at the beginning of the pit to front straight wall. He, however, did continue once he got the car going again. David's car was a total mess. The right rearmost part of the quarter panel was gone, he had no rear bumper, the left rearmost quarter panel was hanging on by a weave of carbon fiber, his left front quarter panel had been smashed in and his headlight was gone, and his left rear tire was blown and riding on it's rim. Other than that, he had made it. He stopped in his stall and began to climb out of his car.  
"Don't worry, just keep going," Haruka stated before David could ask. He helped her strap in, the crew put four new tires on, fixed what damage they could, and filled it full of fuel. Once the jacks were down, she was off for Momiji, who was still stuck near turn two.  
As soon as he got his helmet off, David headed to Daijobi, "Just what in Blue Hell were you doing, jackass?"  
"What the fuck do you think I was doing! Paying you back for the screw job you did on me," Daijobi responded.  
David grabbed him by the collar and lifted Daijobi a full foot off the ground, "You ever try a stunt like that again, I'll make sure you never drive again!" Then slammed him into the wall.  
"Typical American brutality," Daijobi spat, "Can't do anything without brute force."  
"Hey, how about you stick this wrench up your ass before I use it to make you shut up permanently?"  
"How about you go back to your disgraceful country?"  
"That's it! You obviously never learned your first lesson!" David yelled as Aguri and most of his crew held him back. Daijobi and his crew did the same for him, but mostly for show. "Ah, damn him!"  
"Easy, David, easy!" Aguri said, trying to calm David to no real avail.  
"Fuck!" David yelled kicking a tire.  
Makoto ran towards David and grabbed his hand, "David, please calm down!"  
He grunted and let angry air flow through him as he sat on the tire he just kicked, "Damn him," he let out an upset laugh, "Bastard."  
Makoto pulled up a small seat beside him and rubbed his right shoulder as she laid her head on his left one, "I know, believe me."  
David just shook his head, "That was, he could, Damn him."  
Makoto began to cry a bit, "I know."  
He looked at her, then moved her to where she was in front of him and said, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the way I just acted in front of you and your friends. I'm sorry to all of you. I let you guys down just then, none of you will take blame for any of this, I'll be sure of it. I'll take full responsibility for it."  
"That's good, someone has to be held accountable for this!" said Kona Fujimata, the representative from the GTA, "Since you take blame, the fine and punishment will go to you."  
"Without hearing or seeing any of the events that led to this?" Aguri protested.  
"I saw the events, Goddard-san acted without thought on and off track. His fine and penalty will be handed down next week."  
"You can't do this! Daijobi was the one who caused this!"  
"Even so, Daijobi did not act with aggression in front of the reporters there," Kona pointed out, "Expect to see it on every news channel this evening."  
"Convenient. Just convenient that they were in front of the Mizuyuu team stall, Kona-san. The GTA will hear David's story, and so will the news."  
"Well, in the meantime, David fails the test, he does not get my approval."  
Even though they spoke in Japanese, David knew what they were saying. He buried his head in Makoto's shoulder as she cried a bit more. He held her tighter and rubbed her back gently. He looked up when he heard and saw the Fairlady Z pull up. Momiji and Haruka saw the dejected faces and knew immediately what the news was.  
"Damn it," They cursed under their breath.  
"Gomen nasai,"Makoto whispered to David.  
"What does that mean?" He whispered back.  
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I got you into this mess."  
He put his hands on her shoulders and sat Makoto up so that he could look at her, "Don't be. You haven't done anything wrong."  
"I did, I didn't fight him back, I di."  
"No, you did what you could. None of this is your fault, it's all his and he isn't going to get away with any of it. Not so long as I can breathe."  
Makoto sniffled a bit and David wiped some of her tears away, he then smiled, "No, I'm not going to let him get away with this. We both will make him pay. We'll take 'care' of him together, okay?" She nodded then buried her face into the side of his neck.  
"Arigato, David. Thank you, very much," She whispered.  
David put his hands around her waist and helped her to stand up, "Let's go. We need to leave here, for now." He smiled then looked at everyone, "I haven't given up, we haven't given up. We will fight all of this together, none of them will get away with it." Everyone nodded in agreement and began to gather everything up. "Will you girls look after Makoto for me?" He asked and Ami translated for those who didn't understand. They all nodded and gathered around Makoto and walked with her back to the Gouka trailer. David and Momiji began to get the car ready.  
"David, I don't really mean to pry too much, but, why do you and him have such a hatred for each other? And what did Aguri mean by 'police and their bribes?'" Momiji asked.  
"Remember when I just suddenly left the Press Conference? Well, he, somehow or another I, well," David sighed, "He tried to rape Makoto, and I went to save her. I was hoping he would be locked up. Guess not."  
Momiji nodded, "Kind of odd, but, I believe you. I won't ask how you knew, but, I am actually glad you were able to save her, then."  
"Yeah, I could feel her panicking. I could feel her fear," he looked down the track towards the mountains, "I don't know how I could. All I know is that I did and had to. I swear if he lays a hand on her again," he clinched his hands into a fist.  
"Easy, David," Momiji said as he put his hand on David's shoulder, "I know what you mean. You and about 30 other people will do the same," He smiled to him.  
David smiled back, "Thanks."  
"No prob. Let's get this car back to the trailer. Besides, we have women to look after," Momiji laughed. David shook his head and laughed back, then motioned to the crew to help push the car back.  
  
Back in Tokyo, two cats were walking along a side walk, one a dark purple, the other a brilliant white. Each of them had a crescent moon mark on their foreheads. When the coast was clear of humans, the purple one asked, "So, you think David is an unaccounted General?"  
"Yes," the white one replied, "I believe he is GeneralGraphite, one of our Generals with Rank and Specialty of Clandestine."  
"He was a spy?"  
"Yes, Luna, he was."  
"I was unaware that we had spies, Artemis."  
Artemis nodded, "Yes, however, not many in the Moon Kingdom knew. That possibly included yourself."  
"I see," Luna replied.  
"Only one problem, the reason we made a spy was because he was once working for the Dark Moon."  
"That is what has you worried? How did we make him a spy? Wouldn't QueenBeryl know?"  
"Yes, to the first and last. To answer the second one, he had to, assume, the role."  
"What?" Luna had a questioning look on her face, "What do you mean 'had to assume the role?'" They turned down into an alleyway, so that no humans will bother them.  
"The original man that was GeneralGraphite died while on a mission. David was the one who killed him. QueenSelenity was willing to let him repent and we needed someone that knew the Dark Moon well, he was exactly what we needed."  
"Who was he during the Dark Moon stint?" Luna asked.  
"I don't know. He wouldn't disclose it, didn't want to shame his family who was on the Moon Kingdom."  
Luna shook her head, "How sad. Let's leave him be, then. No need to reawaken such a horrible memory to this young man. Who knows how it would make him feel or act."  
"My thoughts exactly, Luna," Artemis agreed, "We also don't need a new enemy."  
"Well, let's return home, Artemis, the girls should be returning sometime soon." Artemis nodded and the two cats walked back to Usagi's home, where everyone was supposed to meet after the test in Motegi. 


	4. Chapter Two, A New Hero?

It had been three days since the Saturday test. Momiji was at his home sitting on the couch, watching the television and lightly cursing under his breath about the media's continuing interpretation of the incident between Daijobi and David. "They've got the whole damn thing wrong, David didn't start it! That idiot started it days before! They didn't even mention what Daijobi did on the track," he continued to mumble while the phone rang. Momiji finally stood up and answered it aggravated, "Hello!"

"Well, I see you have seen the news," Haruka answered back.

"Yeah, making like David was the bad guy. Hey, I'm still sorry for messing up 'Kazetori.'"

"Don't worry about it, it's been roughed up worse than that, you know."

"Yeah, I do know first hand. Being my first real race car before the RX-7, I was allowed some mistakes. Has it been treating you good?"

"Yes, very good. She got me three wins this year! Definitely better than that old MR-2 I was running."

"Hell, anything was better than that!" Momiji teased, "What do you think will happen to David?"

"Well, with him being a rookie and all, probably just a probation. How long, I can't tell you," Haruka guessed.

"I sure hope so, he doesn't need any worse."

"Aguri-san will take care of him, you know that."

"I know, 'sis,' but that damn Kona has me worried."

"Yes, him being friends of the Kamata family does have me worried as well, 'brother.'" Momiji sighed after Haruka's words, then she reassured, "Kona does not have total control of the GT-A, he won't get his way."

"Yeah, not totally," he replied.

"Well, Moji, I have to go," Haruka sighed out.

"Okay, I'll see you later, 'sis.'" Momiji hung up the phone when the other end went dead. He grabbed his keys and got into his 1970 Boss Mustang, which he built from the ground up. His father helped him import it from America, Momiji took care of the rest of the car. It had a restored 302 cubic inch V-8 Boss engine and a Richmond built five speed transmission with a Ford nine inch rear end and a Ford Motorsport built "Detroit" Locker Dana 60. It was noisy, loud and the straight cut gears in the transmission would whine all the time, but Momiji loved it. It was the raw essence of what racing used to be. It was painted black with gold pinstripes highlighting the car to somewhat replicate the "John Player's Special" Lotus of the 1970's Grand Prix Racing Championship car. It had the JPS that the Lotus wore on it's side pod fuel tanks, on the rear fascia just beside the "running horse" emblem. On the inside, EF was on the headrest area of the seats. They were he initials of his hero in racing, Emerson Fittipaldi, the youngest winner of the World Championship in Grand Prix history. As the garage door opened, Momiji started the old car up, having to step on the gas a couple of times to prime the carburetor and a half more to engage the choke. It fired right on up, and began to lightly sputter from the choke being on. He lightly tapped the gas and it cleared right up. He rolled out of the clutch, onto the gas, and the Mustang rolled right out.

When he was at stops, Momiji would get varying stares. From those who admired, to those who queried, to those of disgust that a Japanese man would drive such an unsophisticated, and un-Japanese, car. Most of those negative stares came from the older men, the older women wondered who would drive such a monstrous and loud car. He didn't care, it was his car, he built it, it was his and his alone. No one else had one like his, no one else will. When the heads would shake from the older men, he let them know why he liked his car with a twin stretch of Goodyear rubber over sixty feet long and each patch eight and a half inches wide. The younger men would give him a thumbs up or a victory sign when he did that, they most approved of this display of torque and horsepower. Momiji would wave back, accepting their approval. An idea stuck his head and he pulled over to the curve. He took out his cell phone and a small piece of paper. On it was a series of digits to a girl's home which he was starting to get a feeling for. He wanted to find out what the feeling was, so he called her, to dig deeper into this feeling and see what it meant. Momiji looked into the rearview mirror and saw a reflection of a man he didn't recognized at first. "If I dig deep enough, I will find out who this man is staring back at me. To see if it is a man in love, or a man who is fooled and thinks he is. That, I will find out," he said to himself.

The phone rang at Rei's temple and Yuuichiru answered, "Good Morning, this is the Hikawa Shrine, Kamada, Yuuichiru speaking."

The sound of a male voice stuck Momiji, but he thought nothing of it, "Um, yes, my name is Kaneishi, Momiji. Is Hino-san there?"

A male voice made Yuuichiru feel odd as well, "Do you mean Hino-Sensei or Rei-san?"

"Rei-san, please," Momiji answered.

"I, see," Yuuichiru said, "one moment." Over the phone, Momiji heard him ask for Rei, but Yuuichiru quickly came back, "It seems Rei-san isn't here," he began but was cut short as Rei's voice was heard.

"What did you need, Yuuichiru-san?" She had asked.

"Um, well," Yuuichiru stammered, but sucked it up, "it's the phone. Someone looking for you, Rei-san."

"Oh, who is it?"

"Some guy named Kaneishi," he mumbled.

"Momiji-san?"

"Yes."

She smiled and blushed, "I'll take it." Yuuichiru, though more reluctant upon seeing her face, gave her the phone.

"Hello?"

"Good Evening, Hino-san," Momiji replied.

"Please, call me Rei-san!"

"Ok, Rei-san," Momiji complied with the request, "how are you this lovely evening?"

"Very, very well, Kaneishi-san," she smiled brightly. Her reaction made Yuuichiru more jealous.

"Please, call me Momiji-san or Moji-san, makes me feel more comfortable," he also requested.

"Oh, of course, Momiji-san," she also complied. Yuuichiru became even more jealous and walked away. "What's with him?" she wondered to herself.

"Are you busy this evening?" Momiji snapped Rei out of the thought.

"No, I don't believe so."

"Would you like dinner, on me?"

"Dinner? Momiji-san, are you asking me on a date?"

"Depends on the outcome of his dinner. If all goes well, I hope to go on many a 'date.'"

"What if the outcome isn't that good?" Rei asked.

"Then, I hope we had a good time and will become better friends in the end. I have to remain positive, you know."

"That was a sly answer," Rei responded. Momiji began to worry that he was a bit strong but she answered with, "Sounds like it will be fun. What time will you be here?"

"Well, I can be there in just a few minuets, but if you need more time," he began to reply.

"Don't worry, you can sit in here and wait, can't you?"

"Sure, why not. It will help me get to know you," he replied back.

"Another sly answer," she lightly began to flirt, "Okay, I will see you in a few minuets."

"Alright, see you, Rei-san," Momiji hung up the phone and he began his journey to seek the way to uncloak the man in the mirror.

Momiji stopped the car just a few feet from the steps of the temple. "It's been a while since I had to climb stairs like these," he thought to himself. He stepped out of the Mustang and began to make the climb. Upon reaching the summit, he saw a small Shinto shrine. It had a bell in front and cherry trees surrounding it, though he was not part of the religion, he still felt at ease because of the sight. Two crows squawked when he drew closer to the shrine, "Hello? Rei-san?"

"Well, good evening young man! Are you here to whisk my young grand-daughter away?" Grandpa Hino asked.

Momiji smiled and responded, "I suppose so."

"Good! Good! And maybe you will court her, too?"

Startled, Momiji tried to think of a good, yet not so anxious, response, "Well, if it does come to that, you will be the first to know."

"Even better! Come in! Rei-chan is almost ready! Come and drink a bit of Sake with me!"

"Sorry, but I must decline. I don't like driving while I've drank."

"Ah, a very wise young man at that! You will be perfect for her."

Momiji was surprised how well he and Rei's grandfather were getting along. He almost wondered if the old man was a bit out of it, but didn't think about it as he went inside. "He just might be that friendly, that's all," he thought to himself. Momiji sat in front of Grandpa Hino on a traditional mat for this shrine. "It is pretty nice to get away from a city like environment for a bit," he said aloud.

"Yes, the city is a bit much for an old man like me, but I will 'venture the waters' every once in a while. So, how long until you court my grand-daughter?" Grandpa asked again.

"Well, um," Momiji stumbled a bit, "This would probably be our first date, Hino-san."

"What do you mean by probably?"

"Huh, well, that's to say that I am very hopeful it will be one of many to come, of course."

"Ah, that's what I like to hear, but let's not be hopeful, let's be positive it is the first of many, many more to come from now until you two are married," Grandpa Hino smiled and then added, "but not too many!"

"Um, yes, of course," Momiji nervously smiled.

"Now, the best time to marry is the," Grandpa began but was cut off.

"Grandpa! How many times do I have to tell you that not every guy is going to marry me!" Rei yelled to him. For the second time he had seen her, Rei took Momiji's breath away. She wore a dark red dress that held itself against her body tight enough to show her fit features, but not enough to give everything away. She was wearing a lipstick and high heels that matched the color of her dress.

"Wow, she's beautiful," he nearly said out loud.

However, Grandpa's ears were sharp this night, "Ah, so you approve? A good step!"

"Uh, yes," Momiji said caught off guard then thought to himself, "Very much approve."

Rei began to blush then said, "Grandpa, you are embarrassing me!"

"Why should you be embarrassed about a man who thinks you are beautiful? This is why I can't seem to get you married!"

"Grandpa!" the anger in her tone gave away the fact he was going a bit too far.

"Hey, let's get going, shall we?" Momiji spoke up, "I was able to get a reservation at a very good restaurant near the waterfront."

"Very expensive?" Grandpa asked.

"Um, well," Momiji began to wonder how to answer.

"Don't worry about it, money doesn't buy me," Rei spoke before he could answer. Momiji smiled as a thank you, for both the reason he didn't have to answer and for being a girl who doesn't care about total status. He held his arm out and Rei instinctively put hers around and walked with him out the door, "Bye, Grandpa!"

"Bye, please take care of my Grand-daughter," he responded. Rei was happy that he finally was acting like he was supposed to, until, "Marry her soon!"

She sighed out loud and said, "Please ignore him, he is quite the fool sometimes, but he is still my Grandpa."

"It's ok," Momiji responded, "I'm sure he's just looking out for your best interests. He obviously cares for you very much, just as a grandparent should."

Rei smiled, "Yes, he does despite his often perverted streaks."

Momiji chuckled, "It's sometimes good to be open like that. Means your not so uptight to talk."

"More of that wit, I see?" Rei chuckled back, "I like that." She then thought to herself, "Better than that idiot, Yuuichiru, that's for sure." At the foot of the stairs to the temple, Momiji led her to the passenger side of his Mustang and helped her in. "Quite a gentleman, somewhat reminds me of Mamoru," she thought to herself. Momiji then sat down into the driver's seat and started it up, the loud roar of the American V-8 nearly startled Rei, "It seems you and David-san have a few things in common."

"What, you mean the loud cars?" he smiled and said over the rumble, "Yeah, we do, just do it in different ways." He rolled out of the clutch and the 302 Cubic Inch monster rolled forward and onto their intended destination. It was warm enough to have the windows down this night, causing Rei's hair to be a bit wild and flow with the wind coming in. Momiji looked over towards her for a bit, the setting sun caused her to silhouette against it, with her hair coming in every so often. It only accented her beauty and made him start to feel exclusive to have the chance to be with her. "You know, looking over there makes me feel lucky to have a chance to be with you like this, Rei-san," Momiji said pleasingly.

Rei smiled and said, "Thank you, Momiji-san, that was very thoughtful of you to say. You're marvelous with your words and If you're just as marvelous with your treatment of me, this will be the 'first of many dates.'"

Momiji smiled back and pulled up to the canopy of the restaurant, it was fancy enough that it had a guy waiting to park your car. However, Momiji got only one look on the kid's face and decided, "I'll let you out here, I'd rather park my car myself."

Rei chuckled and asked, "Afraid he'll scratch something?"

"No, just he won't be able to drive it. It's not your average car, you know. I had to import most of the parts and put it together myself," he responded.

"You built it yourself?" she said, astonished.

Momiji nodded and said, "Hey, better get going, got another guy behind me." Rei smiled, got out, then told the disappointed young man the bad news. Momiji waived and yelled, "Be right back." A few minuets later, he came back and led her in. He bowed at the man with the reservation book, "Good evening, Kaneishi for two."

"Good evening, Kaneishi-sama," he bowed as well, "Welcome to UmiAme. This way, please." They both followed the man through to their table, "A waiter will be with you shortly, please enjoy our services." The man bowed once more before leaving, he thought to himself, "To have a man of his celebrity! How wonderful! I have a feeling nothing will go wrong tonight."

As David was driving home from his meeting with the GT-A that evening, he decided to stop by Makoto's and see if she would like to hang around together. He was driving his Titan this time, which was jacked up three more inches than stock using some experimental suspension parts Nissan and Skyjacker, a four wheel drive suspension company from America, were working together on and 35 inch tall BF Goodrich Mud-Terrain T/A tires wrapping around Nismo one off off-road wheels. The tires were wide enough that special fender extenders were needed to keep it road legal. A snorkel kit was also added for water crossing, it would keep the engine from breathing water. All around the truck were brush guards to protect the body and lights, the front brush guard had six inch 130 watt off-road lights and a wench that was capable of pulling 15,000 pounds, more than he would probably need, but they were there. Inside, the seats were Rubicons made by MasterCraft and were made to cushion the impacts from off-roading. From the seat time that David had in a similarly equipped Ford F-150, they worked exceptionally well. The seat belts were just like Fairlady's five belt configuration, but they were formed to be held in by the roll cage around the cab of his truck. The roll cage was there incase it ever decided to roll on him if he messed up a rock crawl or worse and it's padding was the same color of the interior. It also had bars welded on the A-pillars for passengers to hold on to while climbing in. The only thing that made David kind of not like it was the fact it was automatic and not a manual, he didn't like not being in control of something about the car or truck, especially something like what gear to be in. He pulled into the parking spot just in front of her apartment and got out.

David walked up the stairs and knocked on her door. "Aisatsu (Greetings)!" Makoto responded.

"Hey, Mako, it's David!"

"Oh, just a minuet!" she hurried to the door and unlocked the locks, "Hey, how are you?"

"I'm alright, just wonderin' if y'u wanted to go ridin' with me?"

She smiled, "I would normally say yes, but I have a friend coming over."

"Oh, I see. You want me to come back tomorrow?"

Makoto shook her head and said, "No, I want you to meet all of my friends! Please, stay?"

David nodded and smiled, "A'ight."

As David began to walk in, Makoto stopped him, "You have to take your shoes off first."

"Oh, right, don't want your floor dirty."

"Well, it's not that. It's a Japanese tradition for good luck."

David's eyes got wide and said, "Oh, boy."

She chuckled and asked, "What's wrong?"

"You don't know how superstitious a race car driver is, do you?"

"Oh, boy," she laughed.

"Yeah, now I'm goin' to be doin' this all the time!" he lightly laughed with her. Soon, the sound of a street bike could be heard pulling into the apartment parking lot. It was an older model of the Kawasaki Ninja made in late 1990's, "Who's that?"

"That's my friend, Shinosaki Miyake. He's been a friend of mine since I was small, not sure of exactly how old, though."

"He know English?"

"Yeah, he actually got lessons to help me when I was learning it. Somewhat funny, though, I had to help him more because the English that most schools in Japan use is a Japanese English. Not exactly correct, but close enough to at least talk to people from the US and UK."

"How come your other three friends aren't too good with it?"

"The blondes are just goofy and aren't the greatest at paying attention in class, unless it involved a handsome man. Rei goes to a school that doesn't teach English, one of the few that don't."

"I see," David said.

Shinosaki wondered who that guy was standing next to Makoto and said in Japanese, "Hey, Mako-chan!"

She replied back, "Hi, Shino-kun! Come on up!"

"Who's that?"

"Goddard, David-kun, he's from America and he doesn't know Japanese. You'll have to speak mostly English tonight. Sorry, Shino-kun."

"David-kun? A new boyfriend?"

Makoto was somewhat stunned and didn't know how to answer. David saw her look and smiled, "Hey, bubba, Mako may have said this already, but my name's David. How 'bout you come up and stop all this yellin'? It'll keep our throats from bein' sore later on."

Shinosaki nodded and said in English, "Sure, be up in just a moment."

"Seems friendly enough," David said to Makoto.

"You two will get along just fine," she replied, smiling, "It takes a lot to get him upset."

"That's good," David said just before Shinosaki rounded up the stairs.

Shinosaki then bowed to David and said, "Good evening, David-san."

"Evenin', and I prefer David or Dave," he said with his hand out.

"It's how we show respect, but, since you are a friend of Mako-chan's I will call you David then."

"Lets go in," Makoto said.

Both of the young men followed her inside, Shinosaki leading David. "So, you are the American driver that the news is talking about?" Shinosaki asked.

"Uh, yeah," said David, who was becoming embarrassed about how the media was portraying him.

Shinosaki noticed, "Don't worry about it. I know Daijobi and I know how corrupt the media is. Any one who knows them will stand behind you without a second thought, even me."

David started to feel better, "Thanks, that really means a lot t' me."

Shinosaki nodded and Makoto added, "Any one who stands behind Daijobi has a hand or two in his pocket. That's the only way he has friends."

"Yeah, I heard his father is no help to this, either," said Shinosaki.

"No, he is not," Makoto agreed, "Especially in the behavior department, what you see in Daijobi you will see in his father. A conniving, womanizing, self-righteous bastard." David and Shinosaki were surprised by her description. They both never thought she would say something like that. "What? I'm a big girl, I can say those things."

"No offence, deary," said David, " just never came across bein' able to say something so unlady like." He then smiled, "Doesn't bother me, though."

"Oh?" Makoto laughed.

"Nope, not at all."

"Good," Makoto nodded. At about the same time a small rumble and an explosion could be heard from the distance. Then, Shinosaki's and Makoto's communicators went off, with Shinosaki's vibrating inside his pants pocket.

"What on earth was that?" David asked.

"Not sure, but I think it caused my alarm clock to mess up," Makoto fibbed to protect her secret.

"Excuse me, I must use the lavatory for a moment," Shinosaki stated.

"Lavatory? What, oh yeah, British term for bathroom," David said.

"Yes, me and Shino-kun will mix and use American and British terms. Remember, my father went to both countries," Makoto reminded him, "Let's see if the news has anything on what just happened." As she turned on the TV, the image of a burning building faded in, then a reporter began to explain the situation in Japanese. Then something caught David's eyes.

"That car," David said to himself, "it's a 1970 Mustang, it looks like," he turned to Makoto, "Where is that at?"

"It's a restaurant near the port leading into Tokyo," Makoto slightly hesitated then thought to herself, "We can't change in front of David, it will not only put him in grave danger, but us as well! Please don't say," She was interrupted in her thoughts by David.

"I need to go! Moji might be in trouble!" said David, it was the statement she was hoping David wouldn't say.

"We'll go with you," Shinosaki said, then spoke to Makoto in Japanese, "That was our purple cat Guardian, she said to head there and take care of whatever it is causing that. She also said that a monster and a controller of sort are there. Don't worry, we can transform when we get arrive."

Makoto nodded and said, "Yeah, let's go! Can't let you get in trouble, David."

"Ok, then," David replied as he headed out the door, "Shino, unless you want t' ride in the back of the truck, I suggest that you take your bike."

"Yeah, I'll meet you two there," Shinosaki replied after putting on his helmet then climbing on the Ninja.

"Ok, Mako, I'll give you the quick introduction on gettin' in this Titan," David said as he stood behind her ready to assist in any means necessary, "Right hand on the handle, right foot on the runnin' board, jump up and watch y'ur head." After he was sure she was alright, David quickly made his way to the driver's side of the truck. In nearly one motion he was in the truck and had closed the door. "Ok, the seat belts are just like the car's, waist, then anti-submerge, then shoulders, an' click." He did just as he said and pulled them tightly. Makoto did the same, and then he started the Titan up, threw it in drive and flew out of the parking lot. As Makoto gave him directions, it took all of his skill to keep the truck from tipping over from taking corners quickly. The rear tires would wisp smoke as they made contact back on the ground. With the Nissan's V-8 at full song, it wasn't long before they were not far from the intended destination, however it was all downhill with a slight incline before the crest. The Titan was airborne without difficulty and had just cleared a car that was in front. The beast was really a ground vehicle and gravity had reminded them of that fact as the nose end began fall first.

"Sonna (No way)!" Makoto helplessly screamed as the front skid plate hit the ground first, sparks flying from underneath. The front and rear tires followed respectively, then the loaded up suspension rebounded it back up into the air for a second and then it was back down on the ground again. Soon, David was slamming on the brakes and slid the truck to a stop at the front of the restaurant.

"That was fun," David said, "glad I've got these seats instead of the stock ones. That landin' w'uld'a hurt!"

Makoto just looked over to him and said, "Sugoi, reijii (Wow, crazy)!" She looked like she was ready to pass out. David quickly got out and ran over to her side to help her out.

"So, how'd'ja like Air Titan? Think you might want 'nother flight one day?" laughed David as he held her in his arms.

"Urusai (Shut up)," was all she could respond.

"Wow, what happened? I hear this metal scraping and Mako-chan looks like she is going to pass out!" Shinosaki said.

"You don't want to know!" Makoto blurted before David could say anything.

"Here, take care of her for me as I go look for Momiji, ok?" Asked David. Shinosaki nodded and helped Makoto steady herself.

As soon as David was in the burning building and out of sight, Shinosaki led her to a spot where they could transform. She then yelled out, "Jupiter Crystal Power, Make Up!"

Then Shinosaki followed, "Jupiter Star Knight Power, Convert!" Now standing in their places were SuperSailorJupiter and StarKnightJupiter. "It's been a while since we had to do this, hope we aren't too rusty."

"Yeah, let's go!" Makoto stated and led the charge in.

Inside, David was quickly making his way though the burning building. "Man, it's gettin' hot in here!" He stated to himself as the fire suppression system came on and started to die out the fire, "That's better, but it makes it just a little hard t'," he was interrupted by a gold blade slashing down towards him. David dodged it with speed that he never knew he had, however he froze in place from fear, shock, and surprise when he saw the creature before him. The creature looked human, but, it was all solid gold and appeared to be able to change shape. It had no hair and was neither male nor female, it had no clothing for it needed none. It's eyes were solid black and it had no ears or mouth. "What're you? Why are you attacking me?" It responded by trying to stab his head with the reformed blade, which David was able to dodge again. "What've you got 'gainst me? I never did anythin' t' you!"

"It has no grudge against you, General! It only attacks what it is told to!" A voice rang out and the creature tried to stab again with the other hand.

David slid down and used his feet to shove it away from him, "Then what do y'u have 'gainst me?" He looked around, looking for the voice.

"Easy, you are a spy and a General for the Moon Kingdom, enemy to my Kingdom of the Dark Moon!" The voice stated, which let David find the shadowed figure. He was mostly cloaked by his coat, but the voice led David to him being a man.

"What? Who 're you?" David asked.

"You might want to look behind you, General."

"What? Shit!" David yelped as the blade slashed across his chest down to his stomach. He fell backwards and cringed from the pain, it wasn't a mortal wound, but it was enough to knock him off his feet and not let him up for a while.

"This was too easy!" the shadowed man stated to himself, "And now, General, you die!"

The creature stood over David and prepared for a final blow, but David had noticed a pipe with a sharp end on it. As the creature made it's downward decent to his chest, David grabbed the pipe and yelled, "Not yet!" The pipe struck the side of it's head, piercing though and actually tearing away. Gold drips fell to the ground and it's head was now seemed destroyed. David was at first shocked because of the fact of what he just did, then he was shocked because no visible blood was coming out. Instead, the gold drips flowed back to the creature and it's face began to reform. "Oh, my, god," David said out loud, "How do I stop this thing?"

As soon as Jupiter and Knight were brining the last few people from the building, the other Sailor Soldiers and TuxedoKamen arrived, save for Mars, who was still in civilian form and with Momiji holding a small cloth over a wound on his arm. Mercury immediately went to the wounded and began to help them. "Where is the creature and it's controller?" asked Moon.

"I don't know," Jupiter said, "We haven't seen them or David since we entered the building, which has me worried."

"Let's go looking for them, then," Venus said, "I'm sure David is alright." Jupiter nodded and followed her back into the building. As the entered the main portion of the restaurant, they heard and saw David and were just as shocked as to what he had done. Then they looked as horrified as the creature began to reform. David had quickly got up as the two Senshi yelled out with Venus first, "In the name of Love and Beauty, I am SailorVenus!"

Makoto had followed with, "And in the name of Lightning, Strength, and Wood, I am SailorJupiter!"

Then they both stated together, "And in pursuit of Justice, we shall destroy you!"

David looked like he was going to go nuts, "Great, jus' what I need, a couple of teens who think they are superheroes in miniskirts. Y'u know I hope y'u have somethin' other than your fists and feet!"

Venus became annoyed, "Sir! Unless you want to get caught up in our attacks, I suggest you get behind us!"

At first, Jupiter was just as annoyed, but then realized that David had never heard of the Sailor Soldiers. She then said as professionally as possible, "Sir, please, we don't want you hurt!"

"Why not," David said, "If y'all got a death wish, I ain't gonna hold y'all up." He walked over and stood behind them, the creature kept it's eyes on him.

"Alright, now we can get started!" Venus said, "Watch this, Venus Love Me Chain, Capture!" Her chain made of gold hearts wrapped itself around the creature and held it in place.

"Well," David said in surprise, "that, is a, start."

Venus let out a small chuckle and said, "Jupiter, your turn!"

"Okay!" Jupiter said then prepared her attack, "Jupiter Thunder Dragon, Attack!" A huge dragon of lightning formed and headed towards the gold creature. However, within feet of it, the dragon had slowed to a near stop along with the two girls. David had also noticed the scenery around him had changed to an all bronze-yellow color and that the creature was able to move at normal speed. It had sucked the chain inside itself and let it form back into its hand, then held it up to where the dragon was about to strike. David then ran towards Venus, moving at a speed just faster than normal. When he tackled her, the bronze-yellow scene turned back to normal as well as time. Venus had just let go of the chain when the attack flew back along it and impacted the ground. A small crater was formed where Venus once was. "How, how did you do that? How did you move that fast? You weren't close enough to see it and react at the same time!" stated Jupiter.

Venus, though now a little bruised, was ok and wondering how she was missed. Then looked up at David, "You saved me?"

David had a face just as shocked as the two girls, "I, I, I guess, I did."

"Incompetent creature! You knew he has the ability to slow time for himself and that the lightning attack would not harm or even affect you!" The shadowed man let his anger be known, then a green, glowing ball formed in his hand and was bubbling like boiling acid, "This is your castigation!"

The shadowed man threw the ball at the face of the gold creature, which had then began to melt and boil. It's pain and torment was evident and slow. So much so that David had become angered, "Why, why such a torture! If you were goin' t' kill it, then why that way?"

The shadowed man then leaped down from his perch, "Well, General, I suppose I can answer your questions now. I am Jadaen (Yae-den), the Diseased. And because I wanted to, torture such as that is my specialty! Why waist it doing it quickly if I enjoy doing so slowly?" he began to laugh.

"Why do you constantly call me 'General?' I ain't no General!" David said with the same anger.

"Oh, but you are, but it seems your memories are still in you unexposed! You are GeneralGraphite and this will make you remember!" Jadaen said then threw a small crystal towards David. However, before he could dodge it, the crystal exploded into a beam of light and shined onto his forehead. The dream that he had since meeting Makoto had brought itself forth. David then fell to his knees with pain and his body quivered and pulsed. The pulse began to pick up it's pace and with each one, a vision of Graphite would cover David. He yelled in intense pain from being forced into remembering his past, from the memory being deep in David's conscious. Then, finally, a bright light engulfed the area and David had vanished. Another man had stood in his place, though he looked like David, he wasn't. His hair was graphite instead of light brown, but was the same medium length style that parted slightly more to his right. He was still just as tall, but wore a suit similar to an soldier of a Moon General, only it had a design down the torso of the jacket. He was also wearing a pair of earrings that looked like Uranus' Space Sword, but the blades were a black crystal. Once he opened his eyes, they weren't the hazel of norm, but were gray instead. His eyes were then fixated upon Jadaen, "Yes! GeneralGraphite is once again reborn! Now I shall have the pleasure of killing you!"

But, before he could even move, Graphite had taken out his Zigen and slashed Jadaen across and down his body, clipping a bit of his face on the downward strike. Before Graphite could stab Jadaen, he had moved back to his original perch, "It seems I have just underestimated you! Well, you won't be so lucky with this! Poison Pellet Spread!"

A spread of green pellets had begun to fly towards the three, but Graphite blocked them, "Angel Rain Shield!" A mist of crystal rain formed over them and solidified, the pellets sounded like rain hitting a hard, plastic cover. Graphite then sheathed his rapier and when the pellets stopped falling, he used another attack, "AeroPush!" A concussion wave of air flew towards Jadaen and broke the shield, striking him into the port waters below.

Jupiter looked towards him with awe and thought to herself, "Is, he the GeneralGraphite of my dreams? The man that I was a lover to in the Moon Kingdom?" Graphite turned to them, taking Jupiter's breath away, "You are. You really are GeneralGraphite." Graphite just stared at her, not knowing what to say, then she ran to him and embraced him as tightly as she could. Out of reaction, Graphite held her as well, holding just as tightly.

He looked into her eyes and said, "Jove, what happened?"

"I don't know," she said, "but you are back with us now. I'll help you through it, I promise."

Graphite lowered his head so that the tip of his nose and chin were just touching the top of her head. "Thank you," he whispered.

"Who was that, um, Graphite?" Venus asked.

"I don't know who Jadaen is, I have no recollection of him," he replied.

"It seemed like he was working for someone else, as well," Jupiter added, "He didn't give off the fact that he was after you for personal gain, just to kill you."

"Yeah," Graphite added, "But for who? He did mention something about the Dark Moon. Could Beryl be behind this?"

"No," Jupiter said, "We rid this world of her over four years ago, along with the other Generals."

"I see," said Graphite, disappointed in the fact that his former friends couldn't be brought back to good, "I had hoped they could be brought back to our side."

"I'm sorry, Graphite," Venus said, "But, Prince Endymion is still alive! He," she stopped herself, remembering what Luna had ordered her to keep their civilian and other identities a secret until he was proven trustworthy.

"He?" Graphite asked.

"He will appear when he needs to!"

"Venus what are you talking about?" Jupiter had asked.

Venus pulled Jupiter close to her and whispered, "Remember what Luna had said! We can't tell him anything until he is proven trustworthy!"

"He is trustworthy! You remember him! You helped he and I to be together," Jupiter pleaded, "And I will prove it right now!" In an instant, Jupiter had become Makoto.

"Jupiter! Don't!"Venus was shocked, but was helpless to do anything now.

Graphite was surprised at the sight before him, the girl David had fallen for was the same woman that Graphite loved during the Moon Kingdom, "Makoto?" He smiled brightly, knowing how much trust it took for one to give up their identity like this, "Why did you do that?"

"Because I know I can trust you," she responded, "I fell in love with you in the Moon Kingdom for a reason, I know that the reason is the same even now. It's because you and I share a bond that can't be broken, a trust that will never be betrayed, a love that will shine no matter what darkness tries to cover it. David, Graphite," Makoto held his hands to her chest, causing Graphite to slightly blush, "my heart is now in your hands again, I know that you will never betray me or even my friends."

He smiled and took his right hand and led her hand to his chest where his heart was at, "My heart is just as much yours as yours is mine, I won't betray you, I won't betray any of our friends. All of you have my word, especially you, Makoto Kino."

"This is nice," Venus actually smiled, "But, save the 'lovey dovey' stuff for later. We have to introduce him to everyone now, remember?"

Makoto nodded and transformed back to SuperSailorJupiter. She tightly held his hand and said, "Let's go." And the three walked out, awaiting to see the reaction of everyone to the introduction of a long lost friend.

Jadaen burst out of the water and gasped for air, "The General! He's stronger than I thought." He looked over towards the fallen building, "I underestimated him, it won't happen again." He began to swim to the shore and to plan his next step.

As the three walked out of the restaurant, EternalSailorMoon began to wonder who this new person was walking closely beside Jupiter. Jupiter looked so happy and delighted about this man, it didn't bother her that he was a stranger, "Jupiter, who is this?"

Luna and Artemis knew who he was, they needed no introduction, but Jupiter introduced the rest of them to him, "He is GeneralGraphite. He has just been reawakened."

"I see," said Luna, she looked him over, then looked over Jupiter. She already knew what Jupiter had done, the one rule that wasn't to be broken. Luna said sternly, "Jupiter, I need to have a word with you."

"Ok," Jupiter said, then followed.

"Artemis," Luna began, "please fully introduce GeneralGraphite."

"Yes, of course," he did as he was requested to as Luna walked in front of Jupiter to talk with her privately.

"Jupiter," Luna said as soon as they were clear, "what is the absolute important rule about being a Sailor Soilder? The one that is supposed to keep you and the ones you care about safe?"

"Not to reveal our identities," Jupiter said.

"What did you just do with GeneralGraphite?"

"The exact opposite."

"Then, Jupiter," Luna now looked even more stern, "what irrational logic did you use when you did that?"

The way Luna said that hurt Jupiter most, "But, he was a very close friend of mine in the Moon Kingdom! He."

"He was also a former member of the Dark Moon," Luna nearly yelled, then sighed, "I'm sorry, Jupiter, but, there is a lot more to him than your dream revealed."

"What, do you mean?" Jupiter asked.

"The man that was orginally GeneralGraphite was killed when a mission went terribly wrong. The man that killed him was David." Jupiter stared in disbelief, but let Luna continue, "I'm only calling him 'David' because he wouldn't tell us his name when we took him back to the Moon Kingdom. QueenSelinity was just like SailorMoon, she did not believe in killing and spared his life. Surprised by this, David asked why she did such a thing. Beryl had told him that Selinity was cruel and death was a normal part of her rein. Selinity explained that she did not believe in the act of killing another human, that it was wrong and she would be just as gulity as the one executed. The sincerity in her eyes made David believe in what she said. He then stated that he was forever in her debt, that is when the King made an extrordinary offer, that David take the place of Graphite and forever serve the Moon Kingdom. For a while, the new Graphite served without fault, until he and the other Generals were called by Beryl. He nearly went back, but, his teacher and mentor, GeneralQuartz saved him the horrible fate. However, Quartz wasn't seen since that day. When Graphite returned to the Moon Kingdom, the royality decided to use Beryl's plan against her and Graphite was sent to the Dark Moon Kingdom to find the traitors and to see what her plans were exactly," Luna then smiled at Jupiter, "I had heard that, despite what your parents said, you protested the decision without a real reason."

Jupiter blushed and said, "I could not imagine why I would protest."

Luna smiled and winked, "I have a good hunch why, thanks to a blabber mouth PrincessVenus."

"She couldn't keep a secret, then and now!" Jupiter thought to herself.

"Anyhow," Luna continued, "he went on the, what was to be final, mission and discovered the Generals, including Quartz, and Beryl's attack plans and came home. The rest, as they say, is history."

"Wait," Jupiter said, "If he came back in time, then, why couldn't we stop Beryl?"

"Well, he was nearly killed just like the orginal Graphite was, thus Beryl pushed her plans ahead of schedule."

"I see," said Jupiter.

"Jupiter, though I was very mad at first, I have seemed to have calmed over, but, am still dissapointed. I do not yet trust David fully because of his 'newness' and the fact that he has never transformed into a 'superhero' before. I will let this slide for now, but absolutely do not do this again."

"I understand, Luna."

"I'm not finished just yet," Luna said before Jupiter could move, "Now that you have done this, you are now responsible for not only his training, but his behavior as a 'superhero.'"

Jupiter nearly looked like she was going to panic, "What?" Even though she cared for David, he was still a man and this would put the both of them in an awkward situation. She had a hard enough time with Shinosaki in just helping him get used to the fact he was JupiterKnight, "How am I going to help a General? A Knight was hard enough!"

"You are capable of doing so," Luna reassured, "I wouldn't have gotten you to if I didn't think so."

"Okay," Jupiter responded, then walked back to the group. When they got there, Graphite was a sight to be seen. Looking like he was the one about to pass out, Jupiter asked Venus, "What is wrong with him?"

"He just realized that the cats could talk," Venus nearly laughed.

"Oh," giggled Jupiter, then walked over to Graphite and asked, "You going to be okay?"

"The cats," Graphite stuttered, "Since, when did cats, talk?"

She giggled a bit more, "Well, these two cats are special, they come from the Moon Kingdom just like us. They are our Guardians, they inform us of any threats, they give advice, they even try to help us, but, usually we save them. They are just cats."

"Oh," replied Graphite, who looked a bit calmer.

Uranus walked over to Luna and asked, "Is he trustworthy?"

Luna sighed, then said, "If David's attitude pertrudes more than Graphite's, I would say so."

"But," Uranus had her continue.

"However, if Graphite's comes out more, I can't say for sure."

"Should we let him know our identities?" asked Neptune, who had followed Uranus.

"I believe it would be okay," Luna responded, "we just have to help him learn to keep it a secret. If any of you wish not to, you do not have to."

Uranus nodded and said, "I will wait, even though I haven't seen where David is untrusting."

"I agree," said Neptune, "I just don't know about Graphite, so I will also wait."

Luna nodded, "I understand."

"Hello, GeneralGraphite," Pluto said to him, "I don't know if you remember me, but I was the one who helped you with your time slowing technique."

"I do seem to remember," said Graphite, "but only somewhat."

"It will fully come back to you," said Jupiter.

"Yes," agreed Pluto, "It only takes time."

"Rei," said Momiji, "who are they?"

"You don't know who the Sailor Soilders or EternalSailorMoon are?" asked a surprised Rei.

"Should I?"

Rei was astonished, "Where have you been?"

"Well," he responded, "I'm not sure. I've never honestly heard of them."

"Well," began Rei, "They are the ones responsible for saving the Earth over and over again!"

"Really?"

"Yes, they are the heroes responsible for keeping us alive."

"Oh?" Momiji then began to flirt, "What do you call what I did to you?"

"Well," Rei smiled, "You were definitely brave back there, you kept that monster from hurting me, but that got your arm injured in the process."

Momiji smiled back, "Oh, it's not that bad. Just a few stitches."

"Thank you, Moji-san."

"Your welcome."

"Um, Jupiter," Graphite began.

"Yes," she replied,

"How do I, well, change back?"

"Oh," Jupiter was also puzzled, "Well, usually the Generals transformed into civilians but were normally Generals, so I guess you can look at it like that, but, don't transform yet. Wait until there are no civilians around and then transform."

"Ok," said Graphite. After a few moments of helping the last few people, the area was clear of civilians, but, the police had showed up and began to investigate the area, the Senshi had cleared out by then, however. Momiji and Rei had driven off back to her Temple. Graphite was driving in the Titan with Jupiter riding beside him. The ride was much easier this time and they had transformed back to their civilian selves before reaching Makoto's apartment. "Well," David started, "this was an interestin' night."

"I'll say," Makoto agreed, "But get used to it. You are now a part of the Sailor Soldiers and have a higher responsibility than just David Goddard."

"I see," said David as he pulled into Makoto's apartment. He helped her get out of the truck and walked with her to her room. "I guess I should be goin' now," he said.

She smiled, "Well, not just yet. You look tired and like you need rest, why don't you stay here the night? I do have a guest bedroom, if you feel more comfortable sleeping there."

David smiled back, not letting his mind drop into the gutter, "I'm obliged, Mako, but I don't have a change of clothes here."

"So?" she continued to smile, "You don't smell that bad and your clothes will be fine."

"You really want me to stay, don't you," David gave her an odd look.

"Oh, quit being so dense and come in!" Makoto dragged him in.

"Being dense? How am I bein' dense?"

"By not coming in and just staying the night! I want you to drive home refreshed so you don't crash or anything else!"

"I'm sorry, Mako, I guess I had my mind a bit in the gutter."

She laughed at his truthfulness, "Well, my mind has been known to drift in and out, too."

"Oh?" David said as he sat down on the couch.

"Mmhmm," she agreed as she sat on his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. David put his around her waist and looked into her eyes, she stared back into his and thought, "I could just melt into him right now."

"Your eyes are beautiful, they match your elegant cheeks and delicate lips," he whispered to her. She sighed and blushed, then leaned her head onto his shoulder.

She then traced his other shoulder with her right index finger and whispered back, "Thank you. Your words are just a handsome as you are."

He gently rubbed her sides and said, "Really?"

"Yes," she giggled out, "and that kind of tickles!"

"You ticklish there?"

"Yes, very!" she exclaimed, then David began to tickle her more, "Hey, stop! Stop." Makoto couldn't help but to burst out laughing, it only encouraged David more, "No, please! I can barely, breath!"

"Too bad! You have t' find your own way out!" He laughed out.

"Ahh! Fine, you can't say, you, didn't, deserved this!" she yelped out between laughs and pinched him in the arm.

"Ow! Hey! That hurt!" David yelped and stopped.

"Like, like I, said," she gasped and giggled a bit, "you can't say, you didn't, deserve it."

"Well, I know of a way t' stop you from pinchin' me," he said as he grabbed her wrists.

"Hey, no fair," she faked a pout, "men are supposed to protect women, not hold them like this."

"What if he were doin' this along with it?" he moved closer to her, then began to kiss her. She gave in and began to kiss back, his hands slid down to her waist and her arms pulled him closer.

"Then," she said between a kiss, "I guess it wouldn't, be, so, bad."

"Good," he said after her kissing, then moved down her chin to her neck, tracing it with his lips. She purred with delight and gently ran her fingers through his hair. David then moved back up and kissed her more passionately on her lips and Makoto gave in more and kissed him back, he pulled back gently and she looked slightly disappointed.

"Why did you stop?"

"I don't want t' git too far," he responded, "Don't want t' git farther than you are willin' t' go."

She smiled and said, "How far do you think I want to go?"

"I don't know."

"Why don't you find out?"

David looked down her body as far as his eyes would let him, thinking, "Her body looks so beautiful clothed, I'm sure she's far more with nothing. But, I don't want to take advantage of her. What should I really do?"

Makoto saw how his eyes were moving and blushed a bit more, "What are you thinking, David?"

He snapped back into reality, "Of how lucky I am to have a beautiful woman layin' here, lettin' me bask in her essence. Feeling the rapture of her silk-like lips," he put his hand on her chin and gently rubber he cheek with his thumb, "feelin' the velvetiness of her soft, yet glowin' skin."

"David," she gasped, "that, was so beautiful." She sat up and he followed her, she looked deep into his eyes, then led him up with his hand in hers and began to lead her into her bedroom. However, he stopped before she could let him in, "What?"

"Makoto, I, can't just yet," he said looking into her eyes.

"Why not?" she looked deeper into his eyes.

"I want to be able to love you more than that. I want you to mean more to me than just a girlfriend before I do that with you," David continued to look into her eyes and smile.

Knowing that he truly meant what he said, Makoto smiled back, "I understand." She moved closer to him and held David tightly around his waist. She then kissed him on his neck and said, "A friend of mine told me a similar thing about her soul-mate. She said that she wouldn't do anything like that until she knew they were meant to be together forever. I think I know what Haruka and Michiru have truly figured out now."

"Haruka and Michiru?" David asked as he shot her an odd look.

"Yes, you didn't know?" Makoto smiled.

"No, I, uh, didn't."

"That," Makoto began to ask but was interrupted.

"No, it hasn't. They are our friends," David reassured her.

"Good," Makoto smiled, "because, I don't think we could truly be together if you did. I feel strongly towards Haruka, more than a sister, but not so much like us."

David smiled, "I understand, just like you feel about Shinosaki, right." Makoto nodded yes. "It's gettin' late."

"Yes, it is."

"We should be gettin' t' bed now."

"Why don't you sleep with me, and you know what I mean," she shot him a playful look.

He smiled back and said, "Ok."

"Let me get undressed, first. I'll call you when I am though."

"Ok." David let her go and waited outside her door. He took off his socks and pulled out his shirt, but didn't take it off. There was something he didn't want her to see yet, that he didn't feel comfortable to let anyone see. A large scar from an "accident" that curved around his left side to his back. It was about an inch wide and the color didn't match his skin. It nearly sickened him and was afraid of how Makoto would react.

"Ok, I'm ready," she called out. When he entered, he was surprised at her new attire. She was only wearing a large T-shirt that had a picture of SailorV on it. He had began to blush, then she giggled, "Don't worry, I have my underwear and bra on."

"I know, I wasn't thinking about that! Hone," he then slapped himself, "Let's go t' bed." Makoto smiled and let the covers back and patted a spot for him to lay down, it was to her current right. When he laid beside her, she turned to face him. David wrapped his arms around her waist and Makoto wrapped hers around his chest. "G' night, Jove."

"Oyasumi nasai (a "good night" when going to bed), Dave-kun." Soon, the two were asleep in each other's arms, both of them smiling while asleep.

However, their sleep lasted a few hours when they both suddenly woke up. They looked at each other, then David asked, "Did I wake you?"

"No, but I was going to ask the same thing."

"Hey, do your earrings glow in the dark?"

"No, I hadn't even notice I still had them on," Makoto said then looked down and saw something glowing on David's ring finger, "What is that?"

David looked down, "It's my ring. Something I've had since I was a kid. You know, it's glowin' like," he had stopped. "Mako, think of something strongly." Confused, she had started thinking about David and how she felt for him. It was the strongest thing she could think of, "Ok, out of random, think of a number with that." She then thought of the number of his car, 33. David smiled, "Y'ur thinkin' of me and m' car number."

Lightly astonished, Makoto said, "Yeah, but that could have been a lucky guess."

"Yeah, but you are also reminding me of how you fall into the gutter from time to time."

Makoto was about to hit him playfully, but realized, "Your, right. And if I'm right, you are doing the same."

David blushed, "Sorry. But this explains why I knew y'u were in trouble, I was wearing this when Daijobi tried t' rape you."

"And, I think I know why."

"So do I. I gave y'u y'ur earrings at the Moon Kingdom. I remember now, that was the gift I told y'u not t' open until I had returned."

Makoto smiled, "Well, that explains why my earrings stay when I transform."

"Think we should take them off?"

"No, it will let us dream together, just don't dream perverted."

David laughed, "Same t' y'u."

"And what are you going to do about it if I do?"

David thought, "Enjoy it."

"Oh, really?"

"Huh?" replied David, "Oh, yeah. Forgot already." Makoto laughed and David joined in.

Makoto leaned over and kissed David, "Good night, Dave."

"Uh, oasume nase, Mako" David tried to say.

Makoto laughed, "Oyasumi nasai is how you say it."

"Think I'll just stick t' English."

"Awe, you'll get it."

David smiled, "Any way, night Mako," he kissed her forehead before laying down. She wrapped her arms around his chest and they both fell asleep once again. What only felt like minuets, the sun hit David in the eyes and he stirred awake. Makoto was still holding him the same way she had when they fell asleep and soon she began to wake as well. "G' mornin', beautiful. How was your night?" David asked when she opened her eyes.

"More wonderful than you can imagine," Makoto replied.

"I think I can," David smiled, "even without the ring on my hand."

Makoto smiled back, "How much longer do you want to 'rapture in my essence?'"

"For as long as I can and then some."

Makoto looked up at the clock on the pedestal, "I'm afraid that school will limit that."

"Want me t' drive y'u there?"

"Yes, but hopefully traffic will be awful."

David gave her an odd look, "Why's that?"

"So I can be with you longer," she smiled.

David smiled back and began to sit up, "A'ight, y'u git dressed, I'll make y'u a breakfast only a man from the South can cook you." Makoto looked confused, but took his word on it. Just before he exited her room, she kissed him on the right cheek. "A'ight, time t' git started."

As she was getting dressed, Makoto smelled various foods she hadn't smelled before, but were so delicious he stomach began to growl, "Wow, that smells really good. I wouldn't have guessed he could cook, wonder if it tastes as good as it smells." When she came out, Makoto had her school uniform on and was wearing a rose-like perfume Ami got her for her birthday last year. "Oh, my," she said when the table came into view. The plates were full of bacon, ham, scrambled eggs, biscuits, and an odd white and yellow gravy looking food. On another plate just above that was a waffle with butter and maple syrup on it. David had a cup of coffee at his plate and he was waiting on her to sit down, "What do y'u want t' drink?"

"I'll have a coffee, too," she replied, "I know what the rest of this is, but what is this?" she pointed to the odd white and yellow food.

As he poured her cup, David answered, "Cheese grits, a Southern specialty. What do y'u take in it?"

"Just some cream. What do you mean by 'Southern?'"

"Well," he sat her cup down for her, "since I live in Virginia, I live South of the Mason-Dixon line that used t' separate the Yankee North and the Confederate South durin' the Civil War. So, I'm considered 'Southern,' and dependin' on who you ask, backwards and uncivilized."

After taking a sip she asked, "Why are you considered that?"

"Because I don't live the city life. I hunt, fish, when I was in Virginia, I drove an old '70 Plymouth Barracuda, and I waive a 'Rebel' flag as proud as I would the American Flag."

"Oh," Makoto said, but was still confused, "What is a 'Rebel' flag?"

"The flag that used to stand for the Confederate States of America. But, since the Confederation fell, the flag was flown for the wrong reasons and has been used as a way to define bein' a racist. Evil people like those of the Arian Nation and the Ku Klux Klan have used it as their flag and the majority of the racist and anti-racist alike have twisted the meanin' of the 'Rebel' flag. They say that it stood for slavery, 'white power', or any other racial slur they can put on it. That wasn't the meaning of it at all. Though slavery was an issue during the Civil War, it wasn't the main issue, it was an issue that was the 'straw that broke the camel's back,' however."

"What was the main issue?"

"States rights. In the Confederation, each state would have it's own laws, standards, and even currency. Unfortunately, those issues were what made the Confederation weak."

"What about slavery?"

"Each state would decide if they were a slave state or a free state. What's worse is not only the flag, but the Confederations' main General, Robert E. Lee, is used by those groups the wrong way. They say he was fightin' for slavery when the truth was that he didn't believe in slavery at all. He just didn't want to fight against his home, the Union had even tried to get him to join their side. I believe if they were successful, that war would have ended a whole lot sooner than it did."

"He was that good?"

"Yeah, he's considered one of the greatest Generals to serve an army because of his strategies. The man was brilliant."

"If all of this is true, then, why is the flag considered racist?"

"Because," David sighed, "only the extremes of each side will have the media coverage. Not too different from here, I'm afraid."

"Well, because I know you, I know you are not a racist, flag or no flag. You're too nice to be one."

"Wish that were totally true," he looked down at his cup, "I've said some stupid stuff over my lifetime, especially durin' times when I was drunk. My father's side shows more when I am, it's one of the reasons I don't drink like I used to."

"Everyone has said a stupid thing a time or two, mistakes will happen," Makoto smiled at him. David looked up at her and smiled back. "I know you never meant those things, I know you never will. You're heart is too good to let those words mean anything."

David smiled wider and he was starting to feel better about himself, "Thank you, Jove." She reached over the table and squeezed his right hand. He took her hand and squeezed it back, "Let's eat before it gets too cold." She smiled and nodded yes.

When they finished, Makoto and David walked out the door and she locked it. "Wow, I don't think I can eat my lunch today!"

"Hey, Mako," David said, "You know how to drive?"

"No, I don't," she answered as she shook her head.

"Do you have work today?"

"No, I got today off, I think Minako has something evil planned for me and you."

"Tell you what, I'll pick you up from school and I'll teach you how."

"What?" Makoto looked astonished.

"Yeah, I'll teach you in m' truck. Since it is an Automatic, it will be easier t' drive."

"You really mean that?" she asked to reassure herself and David nodded. "Oh, thank you, David!"

"You're welcome, Jo," David nearly let out.

"Mako!" She exclaimed, "Or some other pet name. Remember, that's a secret"

"Ok, uh, honey."

"That one is cute! I want you to call me that more often!" Makoto smiled. They got into his Titan and he began to drive off to her school, unfortunately, for Makoto, traffic was very light. On the way, they saw Usagi running up the sidewalk.

"Oh, no!" Usagi exclaimed, "I haven't seen Mako-chan! I must be late! I'm going to get detention again!"

David had slowed when Makoto asked to and had let the window down to state, "You won't be if you get a ride from us!"

"Mako-chan!" Usagi exclaimed, "I'm not late!"

David was surprised to hear that he could understand her now, "You can hop in and sit on the speaker box in the back. Don't worry, I won't go too fast."

Now Makoto and Usagi were surprised to hear David speak Japanese like it was nothing. "How are you doing that?" Makoto asked.

"I'm guessing it is because of our bond on your ears and my ring finger," he replied in Japanese again.

"Uh, I'll ride!" Usagi said and David came to a stop. Makoto opened her door and the rear half-door and assisted Usagi in.

"The bond must really be working, I didn't know about this door at all until now," Makoto stated.

"Anyway, let's go before we are late!" Usagi said and David took off again.

A block before the school, Daijobi had been waiting for Makoto to arrive, but was surprised when she hadn't shown up, "This is unusual, wonder where that girl is at." A few seconds passed by and David's Titan rolled by, with Makoto in the passenger's seat and Usagi in the back, "So, you're getting an escort! Figures." He then spotted David driving, "You're getting it from that American? That's low." He made a run for it to catch up to them, when he did, he caught a sight that made him sick to his stomach. Makoto had kissed David, on the mouth, "Why, Mako-san, why? Can't you find a fellow Japanese man to love? Why did you do something so disgusting as this? I'll fix it, make it right again! I'll show you the light once more and put you back on the path!"

"Well, it seems that Minako-chan will be in for a very big surprise," Usagi teased Makoto.

"Don't tell her yet," Makoto said, "I want it to be a secret until tonight."

Usagi nodded, "Ok, I will."

"What secret, Mako-san? That the American has perverted your mind and soul?" Daijobi bluntly stated.

Makoto glared at him, then said, "Let's go, Usagi-chan. We have classes today."

"What's the matter Mako-chan?" Daijobi stressed the 'chan', "Afraid of seeing the truth?"

Makoto then walked over to Daijobi, grabbed his collar and lifted him off the ground, "Look here, little boy, you come near me or David-kun again and I will make sure you come out with more than just a black eye. Leave me and him alone, or else." Makoto then dropped him and began to walk off.

David had stopped when he spotted Daijobi, he wanted to make sure she was going to be ok. "Looks like she can take care of herself just fine," he said to himself. That's when Daijobi had gotten up and made a charge for her. David got out of the truck after putting it in Park, but only got to halfway of the front end when he saw her toss Daijobi like a sack. "Wow, yeah, she can take good care of herself," he said to himself again. The only problem this time was the more guys entered the fight, making David run over and help Makoto out. He had caught one of them in time and had threw him in time in a similar manner as Makoto had.

"I thought you had left," Makoto said.

"I did, until I spotted him," David said pointing to Daijobi.

"Well, I was wondering when the brute would show," Daijobi rang nearly on cue.

"Least I can fight my own battles," David stated.

Makoto let out a light laugh, "You know, the numbers are unfair."

"Yeah," said David, "To many of us and too little of them."

Daijobi's two other minions stood beside him, "I see that American has filled your head with his Neanderthal ways, Mako-chan."

David thought to Makoto, "Think your Principle called the cops yet?"

"Yes, probably so by now," Makoto thought back, "He's also the Headmaster, not Principle."

"Good, I can't have any more publicity like this. The GT-A will not let me race if I do."

"Don't worry, you'll be fine."

"Honestly, I could really care less, so long as you came out unhurt."

Makoto smiled to David and thought to him, "Just defend yourself, don't strike them."

"That'll be easier said, well, thought, than done."

"What's the matter, American? Run out of words to say," Daijobi tried to get David's blood to boil.

"No, just sizin' your little self up, that's all."

"Call him Daijobi-chan," Makoto quietly said to David, "Remember, that's what you call a girl. That will get his blood boiling and he will lose all self-control."

"Oh, really," David said aloud, "Daijobi-chan doesn't like bein' called a girl? I'm a little surprised, having to use more than one guy to help him. And here I thought he was just scared of foreigners."

"Well, it does bother me, but coming from you it's a complement because of your limited mind."

"Thought it was supposed to get him riled," David thought.

"So did I, didn't really think about how he would react when you said it," Makoto thought back.

"Don't worry, I've got another idea," David his arm around her waist and began to do the last thing on everyone's mind, walk away. "It's pretty obvious this guy is all show and no go. He's a waist of our time and is goin' t' make you late."

Makoto blinked and asked quietly, "What are you doing?"

"Just watch," he said with his back to Daijobi.

"Oh, fine. Run away! I see that you don't have the courage to do anything," Daijobi yelled.

"Don't say anythin', jus' keep walkin'," David repeated.

"Hey, I was afraid that you guys were going to fight," said a relieved Usagi when she caught up with them.

"You see! You see?" Daijobi yelled, "He, he, wait!" Everyone began to walk away, seeing that nothing was going to happen. "Where are you people going? I still have more to say!"

"Come on, nothing's going to happen," said a male member of the crowd.

"Yeah, that was almost boring," said a female member.

"Wait, fine, if you people want action," Daijobi yelled, then began to run towards David, "You'll get it!" As he reached out for a punch, David took his arm and used Daijobi's own momentum to make him fall face first to the floor. David then twisted his arm up into his back and held it in place. His left knee was on Daijobi's back and David's weight kept him from getting up.

"Now look, small fry," said David, "You're not worth the trouble this will cause or the time it will take from me. The first thing I suggest doin' is apologizin' to Makoto, cause any more pressure on your arm and it might break or dislocate something."

Daijobi looked up at Makoto, then spat at the ground before her. David began to apply more pressure on Daijobi's arm, causing him to yell in pain, "Ah! Ok! Makoto-sama, I'm very sorry!"

"Good, now, tell your boys to back off and go to class."

"Do, do as he says!"

"Good," he said as they left, then released his arm, "Now, look. What you say about me or my country does bother me, but not to this point. It's just words, but what you did to Makoto did bother me to the point of wantin' to hurt you. I dare you to lay a hand on her again, 'cause I'm not afraid of going to prison for kicking your scrawny ass until you are barely recognizable." David stood up, picking Daijobi by the back of his collar, then turned him around to face him, "Got it?"

"Yeah," Daijobi said. His face shown his embarrassment and anger towards David. When he turned around, Makoto was in front of him. She was fuming as much as David and, out of pure rage, tried to slap him.

However, her hand was caught by David. He shook his head no and thought, "No, he's had enough punishment, for one day. Besides, he's not worth getting in trouble for, remember our date tonight." David smiled at the last thought.

Makoto smiled back and said, "Thank you, David." She then stared daggers at Daijobi, "Go to your class before David-kun lets my hand go." The disgusted Daijobi left the scene. Then, the headmaster of the school walked over to where David, who had let Makoto's hand go by now, and she were.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"I am David Goddard and I'm about t' leave."

"Wait," the headmaster stopped him, "The police are about to show up, but don't worry. The whole incident was witnessed by me and I know that you were just protecting one of my students. I'll make sure you won't be charged with anything, but I just ask of one thing."

"What's that?"

"Try to keep the public displays of affection at home," he smiled, "or darken the tint on your truck's windows."

David smiled, "No problem, I'll do one of the two, I promise."

As David finished the sentence, the police had shown up and walked in, "Where is the incident?"

"I'm afraid you are just a bit too late," said the headmaster, "The situation has calmed itself."

"Where are the two boys that started the fight?"

"Well, I'm one of those, 'boys,'" David replied, "The other has just gone to his class."

"Are you a member of this school?"

"No, I'm afraid he's not," said the Headmaster.

"I see, do you wish any charges be filed against him?" the police officer asked.

"No, he's only guilty of helping one of my good students. She, however, may want to press charges on the other student that tried to attack her," the Headmaster said.

"And your name?" asked the police officer.

"Kino Makoto," she said, then looked over to David, "Should I?"

"Yeah, I would. He deserves to at least spend the night in jail," David replied.

Makoto nodded and said, "Yes, I would. He attacked me before, so this isn't his first time."

"Ok, I will need to get a statement from the both of you."

"I, saw what happened, too," Usagi spoke up.

"Alright, you three will have to give me statements. Just tell me what happened from each of your points of view, that's all I need."

"I will return, I need to inform your first classes you will be late, but will be excused," the Headmaster said. The police officer nodded and began to take the story from Makoto, first, then he got David's, then Usagi's. Finally, when the Headmaster returned, got his.

"Well," the police officer said, "from what I have gathered so far, you guys did what you could. Things could have been a little different if Makoto hadn't picked him up like she did, but it wasn't a cause for any physical attack that Daijobi did. All of you did the smart thing by trying to not strike back, and even if your plan had backfired, David, and Daijobi hadn't tried to attack, you did the right thing by finally walking away. And you did the right thing by not striking him. So, I can't honestly charge any of you with anything, but Daijobi and his accomplices will be a different story. They will be charged with assault and brought down to Interpol to be formally charged. You all are free to go now, thank you." The four said their 'thank you' to the officer and separated. The Headmaster back to his office, Usagi went to her second class, since it was that time now.

The Headmaster told Makoto, however, if she needed more time to possibly calm down, she could and would be excused for the time, no matter how long it would be. She was walking with David, who was going back to his truck, and said, "Thank you, again."

"You don't have t' thank me, honey. I did what any man should do for his woman," David replied. Makoto smiled and wrapped her arm around his waist and David put his arm around her shoulder. They then caught the sight of Daijobi and the two boys riding off in the police car. Makoto smiled at the thought of him finally getting the punishment he deserved, and there was no way out of it this time. "He won't be botherin' you, not for the weekend at least."

"Yeah, I know," she replied.

"I have t' go, I need a good shower and a change of clothes." He looked around and saw that the coast was clear, then bent down to kiss her. Makoto stood on her toes a bit and moved into him, kissing him deeper. He slowly pulled back, put the tip of his nose to hers and whispered, "I'll see you later, Jove."

"Ok," she smiled, "I'll miss you until then." David smiled back, then kissed her again. He then opened the door to the Titan and started it up. David waived 'bye' before leaving and Makoto sighed heavily. "I'm missing him already," she said to herself and smiled. She looked over to the high school, "Well, I guess I have to go in now."During her lunch hour, Makoto had decided that she really did have too much for breakfast, "Usagi-chan, you still hungry?"

"Yes, a little," she replied.

"You can have mine, then."

"Oh, boy! A whole Mako-bento box!"

"Usagi-chan, if you eat too much you will become over-weight," Ami said.

"So? I'm a growing girl! I need all the food I can eat!"

"This is unusual, you normally eat some of your food, Mako-chan," said Minako.

"Well, David-kun cooked me a large breakfast this morning," replied Makoto.

"What?" all three girls said in unison.

"You didn't cook?" asked Usagi.

"Nope. And David-kun is really good, too."

"Did he show up that early this morning?" asked Ami. Makoto gave them a nervous stare. "Mako-chan?"

"Uh, um, well," Makoto stuttered out.

"Oh, I see now. He stayed over, didn't he?" Minako said.

"Well, uh."

"Come on, Mako-chan! Spill it!" Usagi said, "Did he or didn't he?"

"Yes, but nothing happened!" Makoto yelled out, everyone near stared at her, causing her to laugh nervously.

"Nothing happened?" Minako teased, "Then why are you so excited about it?"

"Minako-chan, Mako-chan obviously doesn't want to discuss it," Ami said.

"Yeah, that's what makes it more fun," she replied.

"Please, nothing happened, I swear it!" Makoto said again.

"Uh-huh, you slept with him, didn't you?" Minako continued.

"Minako-chan!" both Ami and Makoto yelled out.

"Well, did you?"

"No! We slept in bed together, but didn't sleep together!" Makoto said.

"So, you slept with him without sleeping with him? How did you two get any rest then?"

"Shut-up," Makoto gave Minako an aggravated look.

Minako, however, just laughed, "What, did you think I was that perverted?"

Ami just continued eating, but looked like she was embarrassed for the majority. "How ridiculous. It's amazing I can ever take those two seriously," she thought to herself, "I swear, Minako-chan and Usagi-chan are so childish."

David pulled over and stopped in front of the high school, "Wonder how Mako's feelin'. Hope she did alright today."

Soon, she was walking out and spotted David's truck, "I'm actually kind of glad it's so tall, makes it easier to spot."

She waived and ran over to the passenger side. She opened the door and David leaned over to give her a hand, "Remember how to get in?"

"Yeah," Makoto answered as she hopped in.

"So, how was your day, honey?"

She smiled, "It was good, but you just made it better."

"Oh, why's that?"

"Because, for one, you remembered I wanted to you to call me 'honey,' and, two, you are the only one," she leaned over, "who can do this." He smiled and leaned over towards her and kissed her on her forehead, "Hey! Why tease me like that?" she pouted, "I had a rough lunch!"

"Really?" David asked.

"Yes, Minako and Usagi interrogated me," she faked a pout, "They forced me to say that I slept with you!"

"What? What do you mean?" David asked, somewhat worried.

"Yeah, then Minako asked how we got any sleep, something about us being too busy with each other."

David gave her a strange look, "Y'u're kiddin' right?"

"I might tell, if you kiss me like I want."

David pondered for a moment, "Let's see, I win two ways if I kiss you, but, I kinda lose two ways if I don't. I don't really like losin', so," he leaned over and satisfied her want.

When she pulled away, she smiled again, "She was," she paused for a moment, "serious."

"What?" David exclaimed nervously.

She bit her lip to keep from laughing, but failed, "I'm kidding, both times!"

"Geez, don't play with m' head like that." She laughed aloud again, David just shook his head and drove off.

After a few moments of driving, Makoto asked, "Did you have any girlfriends before me?" David looked over and was puzzled at her question, "I'm being serious."

"Yeah," he responded, "I have."

"How many?"

"Why do y'u want t' know?"

She looked over to him, "Because, it's something I will figure out eventually."

David sighed, "Three."

"Three?" she said, slightly in surprise.

"Yes, three."

"Why didn't you stay with any of them?"

"Well, one was insane, one was a whore, and one didn't like me racin', wanted me out of it, and I told her no."

"Oh," Makoto responded.

"How many boyfriends have you had?"

Makoto shot him a look of surprise, "What?"

"It's only fair, honey," David smiled.

She rolled her eyes, then gave in, "I had two."

"Really?"

"The first guy left me and said I wasn't worth his time, the other was, well, Shino."

"What?" David looked at her like she told him the Earth was flat.

"Yes, but we stopped dating because we felt like we were too much like a brother and sister. It didn't feel right," Makoto looked over at David, who had a slightly relieved face now.

"I see," he replied.

"Tell me, why did you call the second one a whore?"

"Well, remember what I said about how I us'd t' drink?"

"Yes, I do."

"That's another reason why."

Three years ago in South Boston, Virginia, a younger David Goddard was riding in his Barracuda with a girl with dark brown hair and light blue eyes. Her name was Jamie-Lee and was David's girlfriend when he was seventeen years old. "This party is goin' t' be awesome," she exclaimed.

"Yeah, I heard that Danny had this planned for weeks now," David said, "He said it was goin' to be for his entry into the Winston Cup Series, lucky bastard."

"Hey, you'll get in one day!"

"Hope so," David said after pulling into the driveway. They were nearly the last to arrive.

"Late as usual, David," a tall, slightly curly haired man said.

"Good t' see you, too, Danny," David said with a sarcastically mean face.

"Hi, ya, Danny," Jamie-Lee said.

"Hey, woman, glad you could make it, too. Come on, the drinks are ready, got your favorite, David, Jäger-Bombs."

"Damn, you want me t' stay the night or somethin'?" David laughed.

"Come on, you've made it through worse," Jamie-Lee added.

"Yeah, barely," David replied, showing how he didn't want to discuss it. The three went inside and began to join the party, for the most part, David was doing alright. Keeping his mouth shut and staying near Jamie-Lee, however, after the fifth shot, David started to talk and behave in a way that wasn't his normal self. He would say things that just wouldn't make sense, unless you were just as drunk. After six, he stopped hanging around with Jamie-Lee and stayed near the bar in the basement of Danny's house. She, however, began to hang around with a couple of other guys and flirt a bit more than she would around him. After shot seven, he was nearly out of it and she had went off to be with someone else. The rest of the night went by in a blur and had found himself in his bedroom half on the bed, half not. He blinked his eyes and found out it was now eight in the morning. He also had a enormous headache, "Damn, got a hangover." He got up and made his way to the kitchen, but seen that the answering machine had a message.

He hit the button and it was Danny, "Hey, man. You might want to call me. It's about Jamie. Man, call me when you get this!"

David picked up the phone and dialed the number, when Danny answered he asked, "What's wrong with Jamie?"

"Well, it's not what's wrong with her," Danny said, "Well, it sorta is, but, nothing, well, she isn't hurt."

"Just spit it out," David said, "I've got a hangover the size of Russia."

Danny sighed over the phone, "She, she slept with Aaron, now the bastard is gloating about it."

David looked like he was going to throw the phone through the wall, "Where is he?"

"David, no, you are not," Danny tried to reason.

"Where the fuck is that rat bastard?" David yelled.

"He's at Tony's with the rest of his circle jerk group."

David hung up the phone and drove to Tony's house and there was the whole group standing outside and discussing the previous night's main event. Aaron's gestures to what he was doing didn't help David's anger. He slammed the car door and yelled, "I hope you enjoyed it, because it will be the last time you fucked someone!"

Meanwhile, Danny was hurrying to find his keys, Tony's house was on the other side of South Boston and it would take him nearly fifteen minuets to get there, "Where are they, Damn it! David, please don't do anything stupid!" Upon hitting an old pair of blue jeans, the keys made a familiar jingling sound. He just decided to throw on the jeans and drive there hopefully to stop or help David. Danny hopped into his '81 Chevrolet Camaro and took off, "Please, David, please be alright." Upon reaching Tony's house ten minuets later Danny was nearly mortified by the way David fell to the ground. He was battered, bruised, and nearly bleeding from everywhere, the worst was on his side and back. Danny immediately knew what caused that damage, in Aaron's hand was a large hunting knife, David's blood covering it. Aaron was about to strike once again, but Danny fired one shot in the air from his handgun from under the seat, a forty-five caliber revolver that his father gave him and told him to use in only a dire situation. To Danny, this more than qualified, "Any of you move, y'all will take your regrets to the Devil."

"Oh, really?" Aaron said, "Let's just," Danny shot the knife out of his hand.

"I said don't move!" he yelled out. By that time, the neighbors had heard the gunshots, one of them was the sheriff of the town.

"What's going on out here?" the Sheriff yelled out.

"Call an ambulance right now!" Danny yelled back.

"What, oh my lord! It's the Goddard boy! Marie, call the hospital, quickly!"

Soon, the ambulance and sheriff cars had pulled up. The ambulance took David, one of the sheriff cars took Aaron, Tony and their other accomplice.

While he was out, David had a dream, it was a man standing with a cape flowing behind him. A bright light silhouetted him and he said, "You have to stay alive, David Goddard. For me,"A woman in a flowing dress walked over and held the shadowed man around his waist.

"And, for me,"she said. Days later, David had opened his eyes and began to look around the room. He couldn't move his torso, so he stayed down.

"David?" someone happily exclaimed, at first, David didn't recognize the voice and the picture was still blurry, but soon he realized it was Amanda, a friend he knew since he was just a small boy.

"M, Mandy?" David asked.

She began to tear up, then walked over to David and gently embraced him, then slapped him, "That's for getting the moronic idea of trying to take on three guys for a whore." Her light green eyes cried, then she smiled, "But, I'm glad you are alive."

"I don't even remember what happened," David said.

"Well, according to Aaron, who's word I can trust as far as I can throw it, you came over and tried to kill him with the knife, which he took from your hand and he 'accidentally' stabbed and cut you. I do know for sure that you went over with the idea of kicking his ass for sleeping with Jamie-Lee. I told you she was white trash, Davie."

David looked down and sighed, "I know." He then looked up at Amanda, who was still shedding tears, "I'm sorry."

"You, you're sorry?" Amanda looked disgusted, "For what, coming up with the idea or getting yourself put into the hospital."

"For makin' you cry," David replied, "she wasn't worth this, she wasn't worth makin' you cry, she wasn't worth anything."

Amanda began to cry more, then hugged David tightly around his shoulders, where it wouldn't hurt him, "Why are you just now realizing this? Why did it take that to get you to see she was worthless?"

David held her tightly, "'cause I'm just as much a moron as that Aaron guy is."

"No, you're not," she sobbed into his right shoulder, "It's because you are too hard headed!"

David laughed lightly, then gently rubbed her back with his right hand as she continued to cry into his shoulder. Later into the week, it was found that Aaron had actually stabbed David and that David had never stuck a blow towards Aaron or any of the accomplices. Aaron had thrown the first punch, then the other two came in with their own barrage. Aaron took out his knife while the other two held David up, his back to Aaron. He stabbed David in the side first, then carved it up to his back, the knife was to an angle and is the reason the scar was as large as it was.

"So, I see," Makoto said, "I wouldn't just call her a whore, but a sad excuse for a human."

"No, she's just a whore," said David, "She's now some pimp's bitch in Richmond, probably with more than one STD. If it wasn't from the hookin' then, it was from her crack use. She started that after I got out of the hospital, damn woman never came to see if I wus even alive."

"Was Amanda the third girl you dated?" Makoto asked.

"No, we never did. Though, she was never really thrilled about my racin', she supported me whenever she could come out to a race. She just about made every east coast swing of the Dash series."

"I see, Danny he," Makoto began.

"Yes, he was. That incident happened just a few months after that," David answered before she could ask. "I feel like a jackass, he came to help me, I couldn't even come see him after a month," David's eyes began to look distant.

Makoto took his hand, "I'm sure he understood why. He was a racer just like you, and a very good friend," she began to squeeze it, "I'm very sure he didn't want you to be held up by him. I even bet he wanted you to move up with him instead of it just being him."

David looked over to Makoto and smiled, "Thank you, that's twice you've found a way to cheer me up today."

Makoto smiled back, "I know, I'm just good that way."

David laughed, "I still have to teach you how to drive," he looked over to a parking lot, "and right there will be perfect."

"Hey, that's the parking lot to the ice rink," she said, "If we have time, I might just teach you how to ice skate," she winked.

"How, you don't have anythin' to skate in."

"They let me keep my stuff there, I bring it home when I feel it has become too dirty."

"Well, I have nothin' to skate in."

"They lend out skates, don't worry."

"Uh, you think they have anythin' in my size?"

"Which is?"

"Fifteen," David said as he pulled into the parking lot, "and that's an American sizin'."

Makoto's eyes were wide, "Oh, my! Your feet don't look that large!"

"Well, next time hold my shoe 'gainst your arm, I bet it will be longer." When David came to a stop, he put it in park and began to explain the basics of driving, "Alright, the first and most important step is knowin' how to start the vehicle. This one is very simple, put the key in and turn it forward until the engine starts. Not all cars are like this, my FairladyZ's clutch has to be depressed, which means the brake must be also. If not, the car will roll down hill because nothin's holdin' it. Now, to get this truck goin', you have to put it in a gear, but as you can see," he began to try and move the selector, "it won't budge. This is a safety feature lock out that requires the brake to be engaged before you can get out of park, now, after that, you don't need the brakes. See?" The truck began to creep in reverse and Makoto nodded, "Now I can just tap it into the N, which is Neutral. No gear is selected and the truck will only roll which ever way momentum or gravity wants it to." He put his foot on the brake and stopped the truck, "Now, from Neutral, I have to hold this little button on the shifter to move it to a forward drive gear, the one you will use most often is the Drive, this capital D with a circle around it."

"What does the circle mean?" Makoto asked.

"It means overdrive, basically it is a gear that is not one to one."

"Um, ok."

"One to one is when the engine and transmission are spinnin' at the same speed. First gear is usually pretty large, it will accelerate more than this gear and is easier to pull. You've ridden a multi-gear bike, haven't y'u?"

"I have one time," she replied.

"Ok, you know how easy it wus to start in first gear?" Makoto nodded to the question. "Ok first gear in this truck is the same way. You have to climb the gears to get up to speed. The engine doesn't have quite to power to overcome it's own weight without a first gear," David then had a coy smile and said, "It also lets me do this," he put the truck into it's Low Gear One position laid on a little brake and floored the gas pedal, the Titan's rear tires began to spin and smoke as he released the brake and let the truck go forward a few feet. He then put it back into Neutral and back to a stop, "Now, we shouldn't do that too oft'n, might git us in some deep trouble." Makoto laughed and now was the one shaking her head and David continued, "Now, on to my favorite part, the gas pedal, or the thing that just let me do what I just did." David then put it back into drive, "Ok, now you have to be careful with it, you can very easily overpower the tires in a truck or car with even a bit less power than this. It's just a little harder in something with little power. This truck, however, has more than enough to do it. So, it's somethin' you'll have to learn to respect and know how to apply it gently. Now the brakes, they will be your saving grace or worst enemy if you use 'em wrong."

She looked at him and asked, "How can they be your worst enemy?"

"By lettin' the front end, or all the tires for that matter, lock up and sked to a stop. Now, this truck's equipped with anti-lock brakes, but they will not, let me say it again, will absolutely not straighten up a vehicle that is slidin' sideways or is far beyond out of control. I'll show you," he got the truck up to speed and pitched it sideways, then put on the brakes enough to get the Anti-lock Brake System engaged and moved the steering wheel to keep the truck from tipping over, but, as he said, the truck didn't go back straight. Instead, it just came to a stop.

"Wow, that was just as scary as last night!" she said.

"But you see m' point at least, right?" he asked and she nodded yes. "Alright, now that leads to another part, steerin'. In my car, I could pitch it just like I did there and not have to move the steering wheel very much. But, since this truck is pretty tall, the body leans so much to the opposite side of the turn because of weight transfer and center of gravity. Now, this truck doesn't do it as much as a lot of the older ones, but it still has a good bit of sway and it will still tip over. If you remember last night, it even began to lift one or the other rear tires when I had to take a turn very fast. This Titan is not designed for cornerin' like my Z car. Instead, it's designed to go off-roadin', go on trails and climb rocks and other such treacherous terrain."

"Why would you want to do that? Sounds pretty dangerous," Makoto commented.

"Yeah, but it's fun. A challenge of tryin' to get your truck to a spot that is nearly impossible to reach, that's the appeal in it."

"Oh, I guess I see."

"Yeah, it's like tryin' to do a move that you know is very hard to do when you're ice skatin'. It's that same feelin' when you do it and get it. It's also that same feelin' when you can't."

"Oh, yeah, I do see now," she said.

"Ok, y'u're turn."

"Huh?" Makoto looked surprised.

"Yeah," David said as he put it in park and shut the truck off, "'ere's the key."

She made a loud gulp and said, "I don't know."

"Look, all my talkin' isn't going to just apply itself into you. You have to physically do this to get any of it."

They switched sides and she put the key into the ignition, with an anxious sigh, she turned the ignition forward, but nothing happened, "Oh, darn it, what am I doing wrong? I turned the key forward like you said!"

David laughed, "You just turned it to unlock the steering wheel. Keep going until you hear the motor turn over."

She began to blush and tried again, this time the engine finally turned, but she let go a bit too soon and it didn't start, she began to blush more and began to feel more and more stupid, "Am I ever going to do it right?"

"Honey, you're doing alright. You've never done this before, turn it again and this time hold it for about 5 seconds or until the tach right there goes a bit over 1000 RPM's."

So, with the encouraging words, she tried again and this time it did fire up. She then put her foot on the brakes and moved the selector to Drive, or so she thought, when she let go of the brake and hit the gas, it spun in reverse. She then stabbed the brakes as hard as she could, causing the ABS to engage and help her come to a stop, her body began to tremble because her nerves were about to break down, "Oh, geez," she said to herself.

David laughed and then put the selector into Drive, "You're doin' fine, most first timers wouldn't have grabbed the brakes and stabbed more on the gas. Now, be easy on the gas and go forward slowly for now."

Makoto nodded and slowly got off the brakes and barely stepped on the accelerator pedal. "Hey, it's moving forward," she said to herself.

"Ok," David began, "for now this is fast enough, feels like around 15 or 20 MPH, so this fast enough to give you a feel of what the truck will do around corners and when comin' to a stop."

She looked down at the speedometer and thought in surprise, "Wow, he's almost right."

"Keep your eyes on the road," said David, "Another important step in drivin'. Only glance at your gauges to get a sight on how fast you are goin'. You never know what will jump out in front of you," then quietly said to himself, "or what ditch you will miss."

"What?"

"Long story."

"Oh, okay." She kept the truck at the speed he wanted and kept it straight.

"Ok, now I want y'u to make a right turn at that lamp post ahead." She nodded and did as he said. But, David began to worry a bit, "You're a little early and a bit quick on the steerin', ease up a bit towards the left and you will be a'right."

"Ok," she began to let the steering wheel go back to the left, but it wasn't enough, the tail light brush guard and bumper hit the lamp post, "Oh, shit," she quietly yelped out and stopped the Titan. "Oh, lord, David I'm sorry!"

David just laughed, "It's ok, the secret of the truck is that scars give it character. 'sides, it ain't that bad, the brush guard did it's job. The bumper is the only thin' with any damage, and it ain't really that bad, either."

Even though David wasn't mad, she still began to cry, "Even though I was going this slow, I still screwed it up."

"Mako, love, don't wurry 'bout it," David smiled, "I'm not even goin' t' fix it, it will be a memory that we will share and can see. A little moment we can say we had together, y'u know?"

She looked up at him, "Why aren't you mad?"

David wiped the tears from her eyes, "Because, I love you too much to let somethin' like that get me upset," he then took her hand and held it gently, "Like I said, it will be a memory we will share about bein' together. Now, don't let this discourage you, keep goin', you're doin' very well!"

She sniffled and said while smiling, "Okay. I'll, I'll keep going." She put it in Drive, correctly, and kept going, doing everything David told her. She even did a few laps around the lamp posts backwards, not exceeding the speed limit he imposed, of course.

"Ok, enough of the kiddy stuff. Let's drive to your house," he said.

Her eyes were very wide, "I don't think I'm ready just driving for a couple of hours in the parking lot!"

"You're ready for it, Love," David encouraged, "It's nearly the same, only a little more input from you to keep the truck straight is all that's required. Only thing I ask is that you keep it at the speed limit."

"O, okay," she replied nervously.

"Relax, you're goin' t' be fine." Makoto nodded and looked both ways as David had instructed a few moments ago. Once everything was clear, she pulled forward and out of the parking lot in the direction of her apartments. When she started to apply more accelerator, the truck's rear end began to spin, but she let out of it easily as she had learned to. David nodded his head in approval and smiled.

She began to lightly laugh, "I'm really doing this, I'm actually driving! On the road!"

"See, I told you, you can handle it," David continued his encouragement, "Just keep your eyes on the road like I said and stay within the speed limit."

Makoto continued down towards her apartment, when a car in the opposite lane flashed it's lights, "Why did that car do that?"

"A cop must be down the road or something, just take an easy and we'll be fine." Sure enough, to Makoto's left, a patrol car had been sitting there checking traffic.

Her breathing began to pick up as they passed it, then it pulled out and began to turn it's lights on and pick up speed, "Oh, no, no, no! This isn't happening now!"

"Don't worry, just pull to the left and see if he goes by, I'll take care of him if he doesn't," David soothed her. Sure enough, the patrol car went whizzing by, "See, you're alright, now check your right mirror, and pull back into traffic if it is clear."

A few moments later, they had arrived safely to Makoto's apartment, "That was kind of scary at first, but, I think I would like to do it again."

"We will, but we'll need to get your license first. Or the temporary one, however they do it here," said David. They hopped out of the Titan and he gave her a quick hug and a kiss, "I'll see you in a bit."

"Okay," replied a delighted Makoto, "Remember, you have to meet me at the park, not here. I want to surprise you on how I look."

David smiled and agreed, "An interestin' thought. I'll see you there, then." As he jumped back into the truck, he saw Minako and Usagi arrive in the driver's mirror. He waived to them, "Hey, girls, how are you doing?"

Minako was surprised that he surprised that he was now speaking their language, "Um, hi, David-san."

Usagi then stated, "See? Now I have someone else to tell Ami-chan!" She then looked up and said, innocently, "Oh yeah, hi, David-san!"

"Now, I've told you all to call me David, ok?" He asked.

"Oh, yes, that's right," said Usagi.

"Hey! You need to get going!" exclaimed Minako, "You're not going to be late for you own date. You got everything straight on your end?"

"Yeah," David replied, "got the spot in the park reserved, the caterers, everything. It is all set and will be ready by the time Mako arrives. You have everything ready on your end?"

"Yes of course we do," said Usagi, "Mamo-kun will have the radio in his car and will pick us up here when she is ready."

"Not very fair you all get to see her before me," David said.

"Well, get over it," Minako teased.

"Yeah, not very gentlemanly to see a girl in her dress until she wants you to," Usagi joined.

David smiled, "I suppose you girls have a point." He started the Titan up and began to back out, "See you all in a bit."

"Okay," said Minako when David was gone, "let's get Mako-chan."

"Yeah," laughed Usagi.

About an hour later, Mamoru showed up and walked up to the apartment door. He knocked in the fashion that Usagi and Minako insisted. They opened the door and yanked him in, Minako looked around to make sure David didn't happen to listen or anything and quickly closed the door. "You girls sure are making a big deal out of this," Mamoru said.

"Because it is a big deal!" Usagi said.

"How so?" asked Mamoru.

"Because, this is the first real guy Makoto can really fall in love with!"

"What about Shino-san? He was too, wasn't he?"

"Yeah, but he was also very close to Mako-chan and that didn't last as long as it should have, either!"

"So, you trying to make sure this lasts as long as possible?"

"Yes! Mako-chan deserves a good man, you have to agree with that!"

"I do," said Mamoru, "She has been in a very upbeat attitude since she met him."

Usagi laughed, "You should hear how she feels about him since last night, they even slept with each other."

Mamoru was surprised, "I thought Mako-chan was a better woman than that!"

Usagi hit him in the arm, "Not like that!"

"Ow," he yelped, "you're getting stronger, there, Odango."

"Really?" Usagi asked enthusiastically.

"Yep," he gave her a light kiss before Minako came out.

"Almost ready!" Mianko said then smirked, "So, you two better quit the kissy, hugy stuff."

"Yeah, yeah," said Mamoru, laughing.

"That General was more powerful than I thought, my Queen," said Jadaen, "I apologize for my lack of judgment."

"It was a good thing, Jadaen," a shadowed woman said, "I would have to kill you if you did destroy him."

"My Queen?"

"I, unfortunately, have an infatuation with him. An obsession since the Dark Moon Kingdom reigned and before he became GeneralGraphite."

"Before he became GeneralGraphite? Could you please enlighten me, Mistress?"

"Yes, he was know as Take Lar (Ta-kay LAr). He used to reside on Pluto, even training with the Princess of that Outer Planet. My older Sister, Beryl, convinced him the first time to join us, making him a Dark Moon General. I fell for him during his training, such a handsome man. He was older than by a few years, but I did not care, it even made me want him more. Then, on his last mission, the Moon Kingdom stole him away from me, brainwashed him to their side. Even made him fall for one of the princesses. That is what disgusted me the most. Now that I know he's here, I'll get to win him back. He and I will be together once more!"

"Yes, Mistress, I hear that 'David' will have a promotion with a new company, which we have been able to 'aquire,'" said Jadaen.

"I see. When will this take place?"

"Tomorrow, he will be signing autographs and taking pictures."

"Good, your business is done here."

Jadaen bowed and exited to the shadows. "So, sister," said another man, "You find you love of days past?"

"Yes, brother, I have."

"How do you plan to meet him? You cannot reveal yourself just yet."

"I will use my old civilan form, besides, it's been too long since Usagi-chan has seen me. I hope she hasn't forgotten me."

"I am sure she she hasn't, dear sister," the man said, kissing her on the right cheek.

"Yusus (Use-us)-chan," said the girl, "Your feelings for the blonde princess hasn't subsided, have they?"

"I don't know, Narula (Narew-la)-chan, I'll have to see."

Hours later, David was pacing the a small spot in the area of the park he was able to reserve. He was nervous and wearing what Minako had "suggested," or, rather, forced on him. His shoes were black and polished dress shoes, he had a pair of white dress slacks and a black belt.

He had a silver vest on over his shirt and his jacket matched his pants and was buttoned up to where his stomach and chest met. He had a bowtie, but it wasn't tied. He couldn't remember how it went, "Man, I feel like an albino penguin. I feel even dumber f'r not gettin' this bowtie right. What'a pain." Soon, he saw a raven haired girl in a matching white dress and heels and a man he recognized, "Moji? What're you doin' here?"

"Rei-san dragged me here with this suit on. Told me I had to have dinner with her tonight," he then leaned over and whispered, "I'm starting to believe what a friend of ours told me."

"What was that, Moji-san?" Rei asked in Japanese.

"What, oh, nothing, Rei-dearest," Momiji replied nervously, with 'dearest' being the only English word.

"Hey, uh, any of y'all know how t' do this?" asked David, pointing to his bowtie.

Momiji asked Rei and she nodded. She then walked over and tied it for him, "Grandpa and Yuuichiru-fool always need my help with ties, so I've had to learn. There, done."

"Wow, that was fast," said David and Momiji in their respective languages.

Rei smiled and said, "Like I said, I have to do this for two men who don't know how, you get twice the practice."

Soon, Minako and Usagi were walking down, Minako in a red dress and Usagi in a pink one, their purses matching. Mamoru had followed behind them, also "convinced" to wear a suit. He also had the CD player with him. "Ami-chan and Mako-chan will be here soon," he said, "I just have to page her when we have everything set up."

"Well," said David, "the caterers pretty much set every thing up. Guess it's just that left," he pointed to the CD player.

"We'll take that," said Usagi and Minako, which they then placed in a covered, yet convenient, spot and set it to the track they needed it to be at. They nodded and walked back over to get a good spot to see David's soon to be shocked face.

David looked up and saw Ami and Makoto walking over towards them. Ami was wearing a powder blue dress with a small purse matching it. Makoto took his breath away, wearing a backless, dark blue dress and long white gloves, she had a white choker on and her hair was held up with a white floral band. She had a white scarf draped over her shoulders and a small pin with three white roses in full bloom over her right dress strap. The dress and scarf flowed and made her even more elegant to him. She was the only thing David could see right now, it was the most starry-eyed anyone has seen him at this moment. Minako took advantage of the situation and snapped a picture of his expression. It hardly snapped him out of his daze, only glancing to see what it was then back to Makoto. David began to walk up to her to meet her nearly halfway, smiling, Ami tugged on her arm and let Makoto have a private moment with David for just a bit. David then put his arms around Makoto's waist and said, "You so beautiful, I'm almost afraid to touch you."

Makoto laughed, "Thank you, David. You look very handsome yourself, so handsome, I want to touch you," she put her hands up to his face and gently pulled him down to her and he followed, kissing her gently.

Soon, whistles and yoo-hoos came from the audience behind them, "Hey, we do have the rest of the night you know!" yelled Minako. Makoto laughed after breaking the kiss and David put his arm around her waist and led her to their place at the table.

"That's your friend Momiji, isn't it?" asked Makoto on the way.

"Yeah, he doesn't know about us and the other 'us,'" said David.

"Okay, I'll make sure that none of that is mentioned." David nodded and assisted her into her chair and helped push it up.

"What a gentleman," said Usagi, "Wish someone would do that for me every so often," she then elbowed Mamoru.

"Hey, I'm as much as a gentleman as I can, Usagi-chan," he replied.

Momiji followed in a similar manner with Rei and even assisted Ami while David assisted Minako, the both of them then sat beside their ladies and proceeded with the night's plan. Nearing the end of their meal, Minako and Usagi excused themselves and moved over to the bush that hid the CD player and pressed it on. As soon as it hit her ears, Makoto became slightly starry-eyed and started to think of how that song made her want to dance with someone, "I love this song, 'Lover Lay Down.' I always," she was interrupted by David.

"Care to dance?" he asked with his hand held out. Makoto nodded and followed him out to a small spot and they began to dance slowly. Her arms around his neck and his around her waist. Both of them smiling, Makoto still surprised he knew. He lightly put his forehead against hers and she closed her eyes, allowing him to guide her. He gently pulled her closer and began to kiss her, parting her lips with his. They shared the bliss of their souls, feeling themselves become more than just a boyfriend and a girlfriend, but not that of a husband and wife. They started to become more than that, but they didn't know what it was yet. They knew, however, that they loved each other and that was all that mattered at the moment. That, and the two blondes were having a snicker fit at the end of the song, taking pictures along the way. David winked and whispered, "Hang on." He then used his right arm to hold her up as he dipped her, then brought her back up.

"That was interesting," laughed a surprised Makoto, "but very fun."

"Way to go, girl!" Yelled out Minako. Makoto laughed more and looked over to her close blonde friend.

"Hey," Makoto then whispered to David, "Can you do me a small favor?"

"Of course," David replied.

"Can you give one dance to Ami-chan? I've been the only one to dance with her and I want her to have a little fun, too."

David smiled and said, "Sure." He walked with Makoto towards Ami and then he asked, "Ami, would you care to dance as well?"

Ami blinked at the request, "I, my, I don't know."

"Come on, Ami-chan! You'll have fun and you're a better dancer than you think!"

"I, just, I don't know," said a now redder Ami.

David just shook his head and pulled her up, "Come on, we'll have fun! I'll even teach you something I do back home, so easy you won't believe it!"

"Well, I guess since you are dragging me, I have no real choice."

"Minako, put it on number five, please!"

She didn't totally understand, but saw the five his fingers suggested and the pointing to the CD player and knew what he was talking about. Then David stood with Ami beside him as the song "That's Love" by Brad Paisley came on. "Okay, I'm gonna teach you the 'Two-Step,' like I said, easy as I said it would be. First thing you do is put your hands right here," he moved his hands to the front of his waist, "Now you step back two times, like this," he said in time with the beat and moved like he instructed, Ami followed, "Now some people keep their toe up like this, some don't, it's mostly for show. Now, you clap, move to the side, two times," he did as he said again, then put his hands back to his waist. "Now, we step forward two, times, then back where we stared, now when you clap this time, you spin around on each step, like this. Then we do it all over again, adding a little hip movement to it."

Ami laughed, "This isn't so bad. It is almost as easy as you say."

"Yeah, gets more fun when you add more people!" he stressed the last part. Smiling, Momiji tugged on Rei's arm and she hesitantly followed. Makoto dragged Minako in and Usagi pulled a surprised Mamoru and they all started to dance. All of them laughing with each other as a mistake was made by at least one of them. Soon, David was singing while he was dancing with Makoto to another Brad Paisley song, "Hold Me In Your Arms (and Let Me Fall)."

"You sound pretty good," Makoto commented during a band solo.

"Thank you," he replied and continued,

"When you go out shopping you try on brand new clothes,

To see if something fits or not there's just one way to know.

Why's it any different when someone asks you out,

You might as well just try me on before you turn me down.

Hold me in your arms just see how it feels,

Don't make me wait forever just because you know I will,

Don't leave me hangin', wishin', waitin', hopin' that you'll call.

Darlin' hold me in your arms and let me fall.

Yeah darlin' hold me in your arms and let me fall."

David smiled at the end of the song.

"I don't think you have anything to worry about when it comes to me and you," joked Makoto, "Catching you will be a different story." Both of them broke out into laughter.

It was now nearing midnight and the group was becoming tired. "How many of you need a ride back to your homes?" ask Mamoru.

"Me and Moji-san walked here and can walk back," Rei spoke up and he nodded.

"I can ride with David-kun," said Makoto.

"Pretty short ride," said David. Rei, Ami, Mamoru, and Momiji blinked at what David just said.

"Uh, David, when did you know Japanese?" asked Momiji.

"Lucky guess!" David shot out, "Makoto has been helping me a lot!"

"Uh, yeah, I have!" she replied in agreement.

Usagi leaned over to Mamoru, "I'll explain later, Luna told me why!" He nodded. Minako did the same with Ami and Rei.

"Well, anyhow, looks like Ami-chan, Minako-chan, and Usagi-chan all can ride with me," said Mamoru.

Makoto walked over and hugged and kissed the cheeks of her friends, "Good night, guys. I will talk to you tomorrow!" David took her hand in his and waived with the other. Towards the small parking lot near where they were just at, Makoto noticed that he was now driving something else, "It's your car this time?"

"Yeah," said David, "I like it just a little more." He helped her seat in, then he hopped into his side and began to drive off.

"Hey, you've seen my house, can I see yours?"

"Well, you don't have a change of clothes."

"We can stop by my house real quick," she smiled.

"It is on the way," said David, mostly to himself.

"Then lets go!" he then nodded and drove to her apartment and she stepped out of the car, "Wait here, I won't be long!"

"Ok," he said. While he was waiting, he rolled down the window and looked up at the night's clear sky, "Pretty night." He then heard her close the door and begin to walk down the stairs. David opened the hatch of the car and let Makoto put her stuff inside. She closed it and hopped back in. "Ready?" he asked.

"Yes, very much," she smiled. Before she really knew it, Makoto had fallen asleep. David looked over, the moonlight had cast a her body into a shadow.

"She looks like an angel in the moonlight," he thought to himself. Soon, Makoto's head had swayed up a bit and it stirred her into a lazy wake. "Hey," David whispered, "We're here." Makoto barely murmured out. He smiled and got out, then walked over to her side. He opened the door and began to carry her in, but had to help her stand while he was at the hatch getting her bag. Once he had it around his arm, David picked Makoto up again and carried her into the house. He gently laid her on the couch after taking off his shoes then took her heels off and placing them on the floor beside his.

The light made Makoto wake more and she sat up and noticed that her heels were gone. She smiled when she looked behind the couch and saw the spot where he set them, "He really did remember."

"Told you that I'd start doin' it!" he laughed.

She turned around and looked at David, "I know, it's still a good habit."

David took off the tie and jacket, then set them down on a chair beside the couch. He then sat beside her, looked into her eyes and smiled. Makoto did the same, then they both moved closer and began to kiss each other. He put his hands around her waist and leaned down, her falling with him. He gently parted and said, "There is a more comfortable spot than this."

"Let's go there," Makoto replied, letting David pull her up and lead her to his room. Leading her up the stairs, he pulled Makoto close and kissed her briefly, passion was starting to build more and more with each step. She then moved closer to him, running her hands along his shoulders and arms, then he reached over and opened his door. Makoto's hands then wondered to his chest and began to unbutton his shirt, only letting his white t-shirt remain on his upper torso. His right hand then held her left out and he kissed slowly up her arm and to her shoulder. Makoto smiled and tilted her head as David kissed up her neck, his kisses putting her into an even more relaxed state. His lips slowly graced her jaw and then her lips. She moved her hands to lift his t-shirt, but he stopped her. David slowly backed and sat on his bed, looking down at the floor. "What's, wrong?" Makoto asked.

"I," he paused to sigh, "I, there is a part of my story I didn't tell you from yesterday. I still have the scar, a very bad scar, from that knife. I'm embarrassed to let anyone see it, even doctors, my family, everyone."

"Why not?"

"Shame, mostly," he looked at her with sad, yet honest eyes, "Thinking that she was worth it, but in reality wasn't."

"That's nothing to be ashamed of," she said as she knelt down and looked up at him, "You shouldn't be ashamed of it. You didn't really know she was like that and you didn't do anything to provoke that scar. It was that jerk that did it."

"But it still happened."

"We all have scars, emotional and physical. Even I do."

"Emotional scars don't leave a mark."

"Yes, they do," she looked at his eyes, staring back with poignant eyes, "They leave scars worse than yours, ones that can't truly heal. They keep you from doing things you could enjoy, they can even affect relationships. My original Senpai thought lowly of me and my fear."

"You felt pretty strongly of him?"

"Yes, I did. Most every guy I fell for was because I thought of him when I saw them."

"Why am I different, or do I in some way?"

"No, you look nothing like him," she smiled. "Your different because, one, we had a relationship before we really knew it, and, two, I think I don't want a guy that reminds me of him anymore. If he reminds me of him, then, he would probably dump me like my old Senpai did. He would probably not try to help me with my fear, not understand it like he didn't want." Makoto's eyes began to water up, "He thought that my fear was childish and that I," she sniffled a bit, "that I didn't really want to go with him on that trip to Malaysia. He said that he knew that I was cheating on him and that he really didn't love me anyhow. I kept trying to tell him, explain to him that I had that fear because of my parents death, but, he wouldn't listen. He broke my heart, made me feel like I was really to blame. It was raining that day and Shinosaki-kun came with an umbrella to cover me. I've called him my 'Rainy Day Man,' since then."

David gently pulled her up and held her tightly, she did the same as he said, "It sounds like you had a similar experience as I did, just your scar was different." Makoto nodded. "Tell you what, if you help me with my scar, will you let me help you with yours?"

She pulled back a bit and looked into his eyes, not sure what to make of the offer. "You, you really mean that?" David smiled and nodded "yes." Out of a sudden urge, she jumped at him and kissed him, causing the pair to fall into the bed. She stopped and kissed up to his ear the whispered, "Let's make love, please?"

"You sure you want to?" he whispered back.

She smiled and looked lovingly into his eyes, "Yes, I am very sure." David smiled back and then gently kissed down her neck. Makoto tenderly purred with each kiss and reached under his shirt to stroke his bare back. As he reached her shoulder, she began to lift his shirt and kiss the side of his face, they both paused their kisses to let his shirt come off. David let off a nervous sigh and lightly tremble. "You okay?" Makoto asked.

"Fine," he nervously laughed and said, "Just been a little while since someone saw me without my shirt on. Not since the accident, at least."

She smiled, "Okay." Then she continued, tossing his shirt over the side of the bed. She then placed kisses down his chest as she pushed him slowly onto the bed. Makoto then came back up and smiled, lightly she tugged on the thin straps of her dress and they slowly fell off her shoulders. David leaned up and began kiss the skin her dress would show as he pulled it down little by little. Makoto's skin began to get goosepimply as he kissed down her bare chest and a small sigh escaped. "Now I really see what Michiru was talking about," Makoto thought to herself.

David smiled and looked up at Makoto, "What was she talking about?"

"How did you?" she looked at him and saw him waiving his ring. She laughed, "She said that there were many fun things adults can do and please remind me next time to not let us wear these to bed again."

"I don't know about that, could keep the noise down," David laughed and Makoto, playfully, but still roughly, hit him in the stomach. "Hey! I'm kidding, honey."

Makoto smiled wider, "I know, but, that might not still be enough for the noise factor."

He shot her a surprised, but still happy look, "Want to find out?"

"I think you want to more than I do," she smirked.

"What gave that away?"

"Well, it wasn't the ring and earrings."

David pondered for half a second, then said, "Oh, yeah, that." He let a bit of a nervous laugh out.

Makoto smiled and shook her head slowly, "Boys, they will never learn."

"Boy? Well, can a boy do this?" He began to kiss her deeply, their tongues rasping against each other. She then pushed her dress off her and to the ground, the reached to his pants and began to remove them, belt and all. She then broke the kiss long enough to pull them off of him along with his socks.

"Hey, wait a second, need something out of my wallet," said David.

"What could you possibly need out of your wallet?" she asked, confused.

"Boys will never learn?" He sarcastically asked, "I've got a condom in there."

"Oh," she asked as she turned a shade of red. "Well, do you think you really need it?"

"If we are going to do this, yes."

She smiled, "What if I want your children?"

"A bit early for that isn't it, dear?"

"No, I don't think so. I want a family as soon as I can!"

"You're still in school, though."

"By the time he or she would be born, I would be out by a full month."

"What about our new enemy? Being pregnant would put you out of commission, that's for sure."

She looked at him, then looked at her stomach where a child would be if she were to be expectant. She then looked back at him, "You do have a point, but, what if even after this enemy, I were and another comes up, I'd still be in the same situation."

He looked back into her eyes each time then said, "You're right, honey, but, we aren't even married or have even talked about it. I also don't know if I am ready to be a father yet," he smiled, "but that doesn't mean I don't look forward to it. I want to have kids, just not yet." He then thought to himself, "When did I get this mature? I sound like an old man!"

Makoto smiled back, "You do sound very mature and I am very thankful for it."

"Yeah," he said.

"Yeah?"

"We need to take these off next time," he laughed. She laughed back.

"Okay, you have me convinced, put the condom on, please." As he did, she slid her panties off and then whispered to him when he was done, "I've never done this before, so, um, please," she looked at him with an embarrassed look.

He gently smiled back and said, "I know, honey." He moved so that his head was now at the head of the bed. He propped himself up slightly with some pillows and she positioned herself so that her hips were above his waist. She placed her hand on his shoulders and his on her waist. She took a tense breath and slowly slid herself down on him. David began to rub her sides as she started back up, causing her to tingle inside. Makoto began to pick up her pace, the tingle turned into a warmth and a small moan escaped her lips. He then sat up and kissed her where her neck and shoulder met as she continued to motion herself up and down. The feeling of his lips made her gasp and he then kissed her fervently, she kissed him with the same passion, purring with bliss. He then positioned themselves so that he was now on top of her, gently breaking the kiss and smiling. She smiled back as he then started to pump in and out of her, Makoto gasping and arching her back a bit. David then moved he right hand down to her hip and began to rub around it as he moved down and kissed her chest.

"David," she whispered as he kissed back up her neck.

"Yes?" he asked.

A loud gasp came before she said, "I love you."

"I love you, too," he said before kissing her once more. He pushed inside her one more time, her moaning through their mouths embrace. He slowly laid beside her, breaking their kiss and he holding her tightly. She doing the same, her breathing quickened from their engagement, but she was smiling from pure joy and love. She looked up at him, his smile was the same.

"Thank you," she said.

"You're welcome, but for what?"

"For showing me true love, true joy and ecstasy. For showing me something no pill, drug, or drink can ever bring me or replace," she placed a gentle kiss on his neck, "For showing me I have found someone to be with for all time. David Goddard, I love you with every fiber of my soul."

"I, Makoto Kino, love you with every inch of my body and every word I speak. No one or nothing will ever take that away from me."

"No one will take my love for you away," she slowly faded to sleep, "No one will." Soon, they both were embraced in body and in mind as they dreamed of each other and the pleasure of being with each other.

David woke up that morning and didn't see Makoto anywhere, but her dress was still on the floor where they threw it. He also smelled coffee being brewed, so he threw on some boxers and a t-shirt and went into the kitchen. He saw her standing there in a large t-shirt and some slipper socks. He smiled as he looked up her long, smooth legs that were a natural light tan and toned in a femine way. The over sized shirt gave her a cute characteristic and would trace her body when she moved. David sneaked behind her, wrapped his arm around her, and gently kissed her cheek, "Mornin', Honey."

"Oh," she yelped and laughed, "Scared me!"

"Guess that's the General in me."

She turned around and smiled, "And I guess this is the lover in me," Makoto smiled then kissed him passionately, and he returned her kiss.

"I'm gonna take a shower," he said after slowly breaking the kiss, "I won't be long."

She smiled and said, "Okay." While he was in the shower, the phone rang, "Hello, Goddard residence. This is Kino Makoto."

"Ah," said Aguri, "Mako-chan! How are you? This is Aguri, is David-san around?"

"I'm great! He's in the shower, Aguri-san."

"Okay, just remind him of his autograph day at ProRacer's main store at 14:00."

"Oh, he didn't mention anythng to me about it. Must have forgot, will he have to fly there?" she asked while thinking, "Please say he does not!"

"No, it's close enough to his home. Well, I must be going. Oh! One more thing! Please come with him. Setsuna has your uniform ready and she, Minako-san, and Rei-san are also going to be there."

"Of course I will be there! See you then! Bye!" she hung up the phone, then, a few minutes later it rang again, "Moshi, moshi!"

"Must be the maid," a Southern American man's voice similar to David's interrupted her, "Is, David, there,?" he over stressed.

"I know English, sir," she replied, "He's in the shower. Who's calling."

"Ah, your one of them smart Japs. This is his father, who is this?"

Afraid to really say their relationship, she said, "I'm Makoto Kino."

"Are you his maid or somethin'?"

"No, sir, I'm not."

"Then what are you? I know," he stressed, "know David wouldn't date a forginer, espically not one of you yellow-devils."

"Then you don't know your son very well!" Makoto exclaimed in an upset tone. David heard her as he put his clothes on.

He became concerned and rushed out, "Honey, what's wrong?"

"How dare you tell me what I know about my son, Jap!"

"Stop calling me that!" she yelled out.

"No, and if you dare to claim you are going to have yellow babies with him," David's father started.

"That will be my decision!" David yelled at him, holding Makoto in his right arm and talking on the phone in the other hand, "You talk to her, or any of my friends like that again, you will never speak to me again. Got it?"

"David Hoyal Goddard, how dare you speak to me like that? I am your father."

"I wonder about that sometimes," David spat.

"Boy, you," his father tried to start again.

"Have you anythin' else to discuss?" David exclaimed. His father was silent, "Then good-bye!" He slammed the phone down, then held Makoto, "I'm sorry, Jove." He gently caressed her back.

"How, can someone, be so, hateful?" she asked aloud, beginning to cry.

"Hey, don't let him bother you," he soothed, "He's basically another Daijobi. They ain't here and I won't let them hurt you. Ok?"

"It's just, his words, he called me 'Jap' and he said that my babies would be 'yellow babies.' He hasn't seen me and he already hates me just for being Japanese."

"He's igner'nt," David held her tightly, "He's also a fool. Don't let him bother you."

"I'll try," she sniffled out. "Oh, no, the biscuits!" She ran to the oven, but was too late. They were black and burnt. "This day started so good! What happened?" She slumped to the ground.

David knelt beside her, "Just a couple of setbacks. We'll take a drive after we eat, ok?"

"Oh," she wiped her eyes, "Aguri called, said to remind you about the autograph day at, I don't remember where!"

"Oh, that's right, at ProRacer! That's at 2. We can take our drive, anyhow." Makoto nodded in acceptance and smiled. David took the tray and threw the burnt biscuits away and put the tray in the sink. "You go take a shower, love," said David after breakfast, "I'll clean up." He kissed her on the right cheek and began to wash the dishes.

"This warm water kind of takes the stress away," Makoto thought to herself as she stepped into the shower. "Davie," Makoto yelled out, "Do you have a robe I can wear?"

"I, uh, don't know. Let me check." He walked to the closet that had towels and found a white robe she could wear. He walked to the bathroom door, "Yep, got one."

"Could you bring it in?"

"I guess I can," he said, then opened the door. He looked away from the shower so she could have her privacy.

"You've seen me nude, dear," Makoto laughed as she poked her head around the shower door.

"I know, just figured you wanted a little privacy, that's all."

"I appreciate your concern, Davie," she smiled, "but we need to be more open with each other now."

"I suppose so," he smiled.

"So, look at me."

"Uh, well," he looked around nervously, "I," he turned to her, eyes closed.

"Open your eyes," she laughed. He did as he was asked, but looked straight at her eyes. "Now, look at me."

"I am."

"All of me," she smiled. He sighed and looked her down, then went back up, "Well?"

He looked back into her eyes, "Your beautiful, clothed or unclothed." A hint of red entered his cheeks.

A blush escaped her as well, "See? You don't have to be embarrassed about seeing me nude at anytime. I'll tell you when I want my privacy, ok?"

"Ok," he walked over to her and gently kissed her, "Hurry up, we have to be at ProRacer, soon."

"Ok, Davie," she kissed him again and let him go to get dressed.

Over an hour later, David and Makoto were at the newly opened building and the crowd had begun to gather around. David was surprised at the amount of people who had come just to see him, Momiji, and the new car. He shook his head in disbelief, "There is no way that came here just to see us."

"Why do you say that?" ask Makoto.

"I'm a rookie, Momiji only raced the JGTC a year, and I'm taking over for a retired racer. Most people don't like replacements."

"Well, I'm sure it isn't over a new building."

After the crowd moved aside and let the Fairlady through, Makoto and David went and found Aguri and had seen that Momiji and Rei were talking to him. It was her first glimpse of what their Umbrella uniforms would look like. "Wow," Makoto said to herself.

David was taken back himself as he said, "You will really wear that?"

"I suppose I have to."

"Don't you think they are cute?" Minako asked.

"Yeah, but kinda revealin'," David remarked.

Minako blinked, then remembered about the previous night, "Oh, they are no worse than Mako-chan's bikini."

"They, ain't?" He eyed them both.

Makoto, however, was shooting daggers, "Shut up Mina-chan!"

"Yeah, see it is pretty revealing, especially at the che," Minako was cut off by Makoto's hand.

"You say another word!" Makoto harshly whispered.

"Why? David-san needs to be in the know!" Minako put up a playful defense.

David had an idea of what she was talking about and he was starting to let his mind wonder, "Whoa."

"What?" Makoto nearly yelled out, her nerves beginning to unravel.

"Just a thought, honey," he smiled, playing it down.

Makoto concentrated on him for a second and the thought eventually transferred to her mind, "Oh, I see, but not like that. Mina-chan has a way of blowing things out of proportion." Minako was steadily giggling to herself. "I'm going to put my uniform on, I'll be right back." Makoto gave her a light punch in the arm to Minako when she walked by her, causing the blonde to laugh more. A little later, she came out with her uniform on and a light blush. Her white boots came up just past her shins and had green on the soles and lined the rim of the boots. When her hands were to her sides, her shorts stopped just before her palm and were tightly clinging to her like a second skin. She also wore a green belt around it. Makoto's gloves came up to her elbows and had green highlighting the rim. Her halter top stopped only a quarter of an inch below her chest and she wore a bit more makeup to enhance her beauty. Minako's uniform was the same, except where it was green, hers was orange. Each girl wore their respective colors on the highlights of the uniforms.

David stared, but even that wasn't what bother her, "Why are you blushing?"

"It," she walked up and whispered so that only he could hear, "It feels like I am wearing nothing but the boots, gloves, and belt. Even though I basically am." David cocked his head to the side looking lost and she sighed, "The pants are too tight to wear my panties and I can't wear a bra with the halter top."

"Oh, heh, I see," David said. He wrapped his arm around her waist, "You look really good, though."

She smiled, "Thank you, Davie."

"Welcome, Mako."

They walked over to the table and David sat where he was supposed to, just right of Minako, who was to the right of Momiji. Rei sat to the left of Momiji, as well and Makoto sat to David's right. "This is a little more exciting than what I was expecting," Rei whispered to Momiji.

"You're right, I would never have imagined so many here today," Momiji whispered back. Soon the fans where nearly whizzing by just like the time was until a red headed young woman got to David.

"Hey, there," David said.

Makoto looked up and her eyes widened, "Hey, your Usagi-chan's friend, Osaka Naru-san, right?"

"Yes, I am," Naru replied, "You can call me Naru-chan, Makoto-san."

"Davie, this is Naru Osaka, she's a friend of ours," Makoto said.

Naru smiled, "I've been looking forward to meeting you, David-san."

David got a look that he remembered for some reason, "We've met? You look awfully familiar."

Naru smiled, "No, David-san, not that I can recall." A slight glimmer wandered into her eye and time seemed to freeze for her and David, rather, everything around him and her stopped and an image popped into his head.

"You're, you're," David stammered.

"In time, Take, in time," her voice echoed, but Naru's lips never moved and time restored itself.

David shook his head for a moment and Makoto asked, "Hey, dear, are you alright?"

"Dear?" Narula screamed in her head, "Why did she call him, dear?"

"Yes, love, I'm fine," David smiled to her.

"Love!" Narula thought in shock, "No, no! They've turned him again! I have to, I have to save him before they rip him from my arms again!" Naru ran off before David and Makoto could look up.

"Hey, where did she go?" he asked.

"I, don't know. She must have gone to do something," Makoto said.

The end of the Autograph session, David and Momiji got into two FairladyZ's and began the next session, a drift battle on the closed off and mapped out section of the large parking lot. David, knowing how to woo a crowd, dumped the clutch and lightly got on the brake as he put the gas to the floor. The rear tires lit up with smoke and the engine began to skip off the rev limiter. Soon, the back half of the car was engulfed in smoke and the crowd overpowered the noise of the engine. He rolled the window down and stuck his hand out, waving to the crowd, slowly letting off the brake pedal. After a few feet, he came to a stop again and waited for Momiji. Momiji did a similar introduction, but slid the rear of the car to the right so he could get by David and lead in the battle. David followed him and slid the car into the first left corner just inches from Momiji's car. With Momiji still in front, David kept the car in a slide through the straight, then switched it to the right and passed Momiji into the right hand corner. However, Momiji went back in front into the immediate left hand corner, tires blazing with white smoke. They both were side by side in the straight and power-slid into the right hand corner, just inches between the two cars. The next corner required them to hold a drift beside the entire length of the garage, over six bays, with tire smoke convening onto the crowd. The crowd once again overpowered the noise of the cars. The next right hander was one-hundred-eighty degrees, with David taking the lead this time. Into the left hand corner, Momiji was just ahead of David, but he out muscled Momiji back into the lead within the same corner. But on the right hander, the last corner of the run before the finish, Momiji drifted past David and got to the finish line first. The crowd cheered the loudest it had the entire event, however, two angels sighed with relief. "Lord, they are insane!" exclaimed Rei.

"No kidding! Did you see how close they came to each other?" Makoto said in amazement.

"He's going to give me a heart attack before I turn 20 if he keeps doing stuff like that!"

One girl was preoccupied with a tall man, nearly 10 years her senior, "It's been so long since I last seen you, Yuichi-kun."

"I know, Mina-chan. I'm sorry I hurt you in the past, I'll make it up to you," said Yuichi Ohtsubo, "I still love you, Mina-chan!"

"Then why did you leave me for that whore?" she asked teary eyed.

"I was stupid, and young."

"Young and stupid are pitiful excuses! Do you know how much that hurt me? How much I nearly drove to killing myself because you left me?"

"I'm sorry, Mink, I,"

"Don't you dare, dare, call me that! You ended it and I'm not getting hurt by you again!"

"Why are you only giving me one chance?"

"Because you only just decide to come see me again! What, the whore couldn't give it to you any more so you chose to come see me for a quick score? Do you think I'm that stupid?"

"Mink, that's not what I was thinking at all!"

David had just shaken the hands of the many fans and signed more autographs when he spotted Minako, and her distressed state. He then politely made his way to her when he heard her yell out what she thought he was there for, "Hey, Mina! What's up?"

"None of your business, pal," Yuichi stated.

"Well, pal," David stressed the pal part, "she's a very good friend of mine and I think she can tell me if it's my business or not on her own."

"He's right, now, Yuichi, leave before," Minako started.

"Before you what?"

"She asks me to kick yu'r ass," said David with telling face.

"What happened to."

"Leave, now!" Minako yelled at him tears streaming down her face, ruining her make-up more, "Never talk to me again!"

David escorted her away from Yuichi, then handed her a handkerchief as he asked, "Shou'd I ask who that wus?"

"Yuichi Ohtsubo," Minako said as she wiped the tears and make-up, "my, ex-boyfriend."

"Mighty old lookin.' How old is Mr. Oatsubo?"

"I hate him so much I'm not even going to correct you. He's 27."

"You'r, only ei'teen, right?"

"Yes," she replied sheepishly.

"Awe, don't worry. I've he'rd worse."

"Really?"

"Try ei'teen and forte."

"Wow," Minako said wide-eyed and shot him a surprised look, "Are you telling me the truth."

"If I wus lyin,' I'd be dyin'."

"That's, just, gross! Ewe, ewe, ewe!"

"Oh, it gits wurse, he was also marri'd and had young'uns."

"Oh my god."

"No kiddin'!" David laughed.

They had caught up with Momiji, who was excitedly explaining the drift battle to Rei and Makoto, who were still in shock and just getting more worried for the men's lives. David shook his head and sat beside Makoto, holding her hand, "Don't worry, we'll only do that for fun."

"Fun? You two were nearly crashing into each other!" She exclaimed.

"But, we didn't."

"Hey, Mina-chan! What happened to your make-up?" Makoto asked.

"Yeah," said Rei, "your eyes are kind of red, too."

"Uh," she stammered.

"I think the tire smoke got t'er an'er eyes teared on up," David played safety.

"Yeah, it just drove my eyes nuts, you know!" Minako played on and gave David a quick thank you look. "Makoto will find out, eventually, anyway," she thought to herself.

David then stood up and helped Makoto up, too, "There you go, Honey."

"Awe, how cute!" Minako cooed, "He's got a pet name for you!"

Makoto smiled, "Yeah, I've got one for him, too."

"Oh?"

"Yep, he's my Davie."

Minako giggled, "I see." They walked over and spotted Rei and Momiji talking and getting closer. "Oh, oh, stop," she whispered and smiled, "Look at them. They are almost close enough to kiss!" Momiji had then leaned over and rested on Rei's shoulder as he leaned on the fence, and she had done the same.

"I don't see how you can stand driving that close and that insane," Rei commented.

"It's something you get used to," replied Momiji, "I've done it nearly hanging out the driver's side door."

"What?" she nearly exclaimed loudly.

"Yeah, gets the crowd excited."

"Like I said to Mako-chan, you're going to give me a heart attack before I turn 20!"

Momiji smiled and put his arm around her, "Don't worry, Rei-dearest," he leaned in a little closer, "I'll be sure that won't happen."

"Oh? How would you do that?"

"By breathing life into you everyday."

Rei smiled, "Let's see how well that works." They both leaned into each other's lips and began to kiss each other. David tried to bolt, but with no luck because of the blonde and brunette.

"Haven't you girls heard of privacy?" David loudly whispered.

"You kidding? This is great!" Minako said.

"Yeah, now I can get her back!" Makoto said.

"Uh, yeah!" Minako nervously said.

"You're going to get yours, don't worry."

As Rei and Momiji kissed deeper and more passionately, Minako finally got the urge to yell out, "Woohoo! You go girl!"

"Oh, geez," David and the love birds nearly stated at the same time.

"Hey, you two are perfect!" Makoto rang out.

Momiji began to slightly blush as Rei said, "Of course, I'm perfect for anybody. However, Momiji is special because he's perfect for me."

"And you were just saying how I was going to give you a heart attack before you were 20," he said smiling through the blush.

She smiled back, "That doesn't mean you're not perfect for me." She kissed him on the cheek, "Can you escort me home?"

"Of course!" he continued to smile. Momiji took her hand and walked to the Mercedes that Aguri's driver, Shinichi, was waiting.

"Oh, hey!" Minako yelled out, "You guys need to take me home!" She ran after and hopped into the car with them.

David looked over at Makoto, "You want t' go home or go wit' me?"

"I'll go with you," she replied, "but I need to get out of this!"

"Why? Makes gettin' y'u out of it that much less difficult," he smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist.

Makoto smiled and hung her arms around his neck, "But, that doesn't make it any more fun."

David smiled and laughed with her, "That's true," he kissed her gently, then escorted her to the room where she changed.

She smiled and said, "You wait here, okay?"

"Oh," he playfully said disappointedly, "alrigh'. Just be sure not t' take too long, or I'm com'n for you."

Makoto laughed, "Okay, I'll be sure not to take too long, then."

When she emerged, she had a long sleeve, green plaid button up shirt she borrowed from David. Makoto said she liked it, even though the bottom of the shirt went far below her waist and the sleeves had to be rolled up just so her hands would come through. She also had a tight sleeveless shirt under it. She tucked that into a pair of tight blue jeans she had brought with her from her apartment. "I'm ready."

"Good," David smiled, then put his right arm around her waist and walked back to his car.

Unannounced to them, Naru watched them, thoughts of what to do getting more evil with each step they took together. The thought of them together made her want to vomit and was driving her insane. Thoughts of murder, callous beatings, and other vile things filled her head. She then remembered what Usagi told her one time about Makoto. She used to be deeply in love with one boy, but he broke her heart and caused a deep depression. "Usagi said if that were to happen again, Makoto probably wouldn't be able to live with herself. As deeply in love as she is with Take, yes, that's more perfect than murder! Now, I'll have to find a way to get Take back to me. Wait, Shou (Show) the Brew, he can create a potion to bring him to me! I can then convince him to severely break the tie 'David' has with her." Narula then disappeared to her chamber, to discuss the devious plan. However, when she arrived, Narula found Yusus with his arms not the only thing cross. "What is wrong brother?"

He looked up to her and said, "Minako, she no longer has any feelings for me. Your man didn't help things, either."

"What do you mean Yusus?" She looked at him puzzled.

"He was 'goin' to kick my ass' if I didn't leave her alone. He then took her away from me," he replied.

"I see. Their sickness has truly poisoned deep into his heart. I, however, have a plan to bring him back to us."

"Oh? Divulge, dear sister, please."

"Shou the Brew can create a potion to bring him back to us. I would then make him pledge his love for me in front of Jupiter, and the others. Take will be a force for them with our combined powers."

"I see. I will discuss a plan with him. Shou only listens to me, remember?"

"Yes, I remember, brother."

"I shall return, dear sister, with the potion and the plan," he walked out with her nodding. Secretly, he was devising a plan of his own, "It would be perfect. Not only will the potion make him loyal to us, but me alone like Shou is. He will only follow my orders, even as far as to kill the ones he loves. Take the Steelheart will return, and help ensure that I alone will have the throne of this and other universes."

Yusus walked into the chamber where Shou resided. Only red light was allowed in, making it hard to see. However, Shou's eyes were very visible, they glowed a haunting yellow, but no light was ever given off. "Master! You have returned once more?" his scratchy, quiet voice asked.

"Yes, Shou," Yusus answered, "I have. I am in need of your wisdom of potions and spells again. We will soon have an ally back in our midst, Take the Steelheart."

"What!" Shou yelled out.

"Yes, I need a potion that will, 'convince' him to be loyal to me, and only me. Following every order, no matter the price. Even to kill my sister, if I need him to."

"Will that be enough? His mind is very powerful, if I don't get the potion strong enough or mix it just right, he'll be loyal for a little while, but could snap into a killing spree within the same instant."

"I trust you, Shou, to do the job right. That's why I asked only you to do it. You're the only one who can."

"Yes, Master, I shall do my best and then some, however, it will take some time."

Yusus nodded, "I know. This will be the only time I'll give you the time you need, just don't be too long."

"Yes, Master!" Shou nodded, then bowed to him as Yusus exited.

"I remember the last time we tried this," Yusus thought to himself, "It's how we lost him the first time. On that mission, Take was just supposed to take down GeneralGraphite and the men he brought with him. Instead, he slaughtered them, and all the men I sent with him with is bare hands. Those who saw that said nothing in any of their worse nightmares could envision what happened on that field. He used no weapons, no powers, just his hands and his, claws. Take's original suit was white and his hair was also, but so much blood was spilled, his captors thought they were red to start with. The part that brought absolute fear was his eyes. They were black, completely black and empty. No emotion, no reflection, nothing. I had heard rumors and some reports of where it seemed that Take went mad and killed everything in site, but, I didn't believe them until I heard of his capture. If that potion goes wrong this time, this world is doomed."

Luna was sitting on a small chair beside Setsuna, her tail weaving left to right in her deep thought. "Luna? Is everything ok?" Setsuna asked.

"No," Luna answered, "well, the more I think of trying to remember David, the more I feel like I don't want to. Like there is something about him that doesn't need to be brought up again."

"You are talking about who he was before becoming Graphite?"

"Yes, do you remember?"

"Yes, I do, actually," she answered grimly, "You are right, you don't want to remember."

"What if it's something that will happen again? We would need to prepare for it."

Setsuna shook her head, "Luna, the only worse day was when Beryl stuck the Moon. He and the kingdom took measures to prevent him from doing what he did again."

Luna looked at her with awe, "What, what in heavens name did he do?"

Setsuna sighed, "He was once known as Take Lar, or rather, Take the Steelheart. When he went insane, he knew no mercy, pain, friend or foe. Killing was the only thing he would know. He did so with no weapon or no thoughts of stopping. You remember the Red Field on the Dark Moon?"

"Yes, it was the only other color that showed on the surface until you got to their Kingdom."

"He's, the reason for it."

Luna was still puzzled, until she remembered, "Oh, no. I remember the day he was brought in! He, we, his suit and hair were dyed red, from the blood! Oh, oh my god! We need to get Makoto away from him!"

"No, Luna, The Moon took a precaution so that it wouldn't happen again. The King wouldn't allow Take to replace Graphite until he agreed to it, which he did right away. He was injected with a serum that would prevent that side of him to ever appear again. In other words, Take was executed that day, just not in the way everyone thought. It's also, ironically, why his hair and eyes turned to the graphite color they are now. It was a side effect of the serum."

"I see," Luna said more calmly, "so, as long as his hair and eyes stay that graphite color when he is Graphite, we are all in the clear. However, when his eyes turn absolute black and hair white, we know we need to do something about him immediately." Setsuna nodded and Luna continued, "Okay, we need to have an emergency meeting. All of the Senshi, including Makoto especially, must know this information and need to find a way to prevent and even stop it."

"I'll gather the Outers, then," said Setsuna, "The usual meeting spot?"

"Yes, and I will contact everyone else," Luna said, "The meeting will take place at 20:00, tonight!" Setsuna nodded once more and ran to gather the Outer Senshi, while Luna used her communicator for a conference communication, "Everyone, listen up! We must meet at Rei's temple at the top of 20:00 for an emergency meeting! Graphite is not to attend for now!"

At the time instructed, the Senshi, Mamoru, and Shinosaki were informed of the danger that loomed inside of David, who was sitting in his car away from the temple, or so they thought. He had snuck up and listened in, but being somewhat new to the spying game, he didn't stay hidden too well. When Rei quickly opened the door, thinking it was her Grandpa or Yuuichiru, they were all surprised to see him falling flat on the side of his face. "Ow, that stung," David tried to play stupid as he rubbed the side of his face, but it wasn't working.

"I suppose you would have to learn not only who we all really were," Luna said, "but your, secret, too."

David looked down at the ground, his hair somewhat covering his sad eyes, "You know what the funny thing was? When I was a young'un, I always felt that if I got angry enough, that a monster would come out of me. Sometimes it did, but," he sighed out, "not like that. I never thought that it would've been real. I thought it was a metaphoric one or somethin'. Go figure, I really have one in me."

Someone walked over and put their arms around him, he looked up and saw that it was Makoto. She whispered so that only he would hear, "David, I don't care if there is a monster in you or not. I'll stand beside you no matter what it means or costs me. David Goddard, I love you, and as I said before, nothing will ever change that or replace that. I love you, more than anything."

He put his arms around her and held her tight as she began to hold him tighter. He whispered back, "I love you, too, Makoto Kino, thank you."

"I really hate to break up the moment," Ami said shyly, "but, David, I need you to transform into Graphite so I can take your blood, then take your blood as just yourself. Can you drive us to the hospital where my mom works so I can get the samples?"

David nodded, "Yeah, but the car can only hold two people really. Just me, and one passenger."

"It's ok, I can stay at my apartment, after you drop Ami-chan off at her house when you two are done, you can sleep there, okay?"

David nodded and stood up with Makoto, he then waved to everyone and said goodbye, Ami did the same as she followed him to the car. He laughed before getting in, "Y'u know, I'm gonna t' have t' show you how t' put them on, too!"

"What on?" she asked.

"The seatbelts."

"How hard," she looked down and saw them, "oh! I see now." After showing her how to do it, they drove off to the hospital to get the blood tests.

"Ugh," David said aloud, "I hate needles."

"Oh, it won't be that bad," Ami said as she prepared his arm, "I'm really good at finding the vein the first time." When she stuck the needle into his arm, David had a nervous reaction and turned his head grimacing. "You okay?"

"Other then the sick feelin', I'm a'ight."

She smiled, "Okay, got that one, now try to transform without much noise. We don't need an incident here, you know."

David nodded, then transformed into Graphite sans his General jacket and his dress shirt sleeve already rolled up. "Hmm, guess I can control that," he said after noticing the sleeve and no jacket.

Ami nodded, then, took the second sample. After she got enough, Graphite turned into David and the needle and tourniquet were removed and the samples were put into a machine and spun up, "I won't be able to examine them until tomorrow, my shift actually starts right now, so you can go to Mako-chan's apartment if you wish."

"Ok, I'll see you tomorrow, then,"said David. Ami nodded, then bowed as he walked out. He hopped into his car and drove to Makoto's for a deserved night's sleep in the arms of his true love.


End file.
